


The Henge

by Shyyynobi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alcohol, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Fingering, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, Loss of Virginity, Romance, Rough Sex, Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-05-11
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:57:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 62,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9476669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shyyynobi/pseuds/Shyyynobi
Summary: Truthfully, he had only done it so he could make her comfortable - who knew a simple henge could lead them here. KakaSaku.





	1. The Henge

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of it's affiliates.

 

**Chapter One**

* * *

"Kakashi, are you sure you're ok with this ?"

A pause permeated the thick atmosphere of the Hokage's room like a ball of disgruntled nerves.

"Of course," the man responded dismissively, "why wouldn't I be? She _is_ still technically part of Team seven."

The Hokage eyed him speculatively, all her years of gambling against men with straight faces at tables of poker across borders couldn't have trained her to accurately read what this man before her was thinking.

"I'm not blind, Hatake," Tsunade reached for a booklet that held the names and catalogues of shinobi from the past year and their corresponding missions. She began to thumb through it carefully until her eyes landed on _Hatake, Kakashi,_ dozens of missions occupied the prominence of the pages solely dedicated to him. "I know you've been taking extended missions ever since your pupils have decidedly taken their own paths."

Kakashi shifted carefully from one foot to another, "am I dismissed, Hokage-sama?"

"No. — I know you must feel partially responsible, but _do not_ let the temporary dismantlement of Team seven force you out of the village."

His eye crinkled deceptively, "I don't see the other teams split from one another, nor do I see other students defect from their village," he refuted, hands stuffed into his pocket.

Tsuande shot him a harsh glare, honey comb eyes pierced through the calm facade the man before her held, "you still have a respectable student here, or do I need to remind you?" she shot back, "actually, I _should_ be reprimanding you for putting your entire focus on Naruto and the Uchiha boy," her voice raised several octaves.

"—I've been training with Sakura for a little under a year now and it appalls me that she can learn so quickly — yet arrived to me exceedingly under prepared by her previous sensei. Excellent chakra control and her ability to handle genjutsu should have been exploited properly."

Kakashi flinched at the truth her words held, but decided to remain quiet in the face of those truths. He felt a perpetual guilt, Tsunade knew this — but it had to be said.

"Listen to me, Hatake—" Tsunade stood up and slammed her hands on the desk, annoyed by his aloof attitude. A threatening finger point landed in his direction, "Sakura has never mentioned anything about it, but this is an opportunity for you to bridge _some_ sort of gap in this team."

Her words fluttered through him which the intuitive sannin perceptively noticed, "aside from that, Sakura could use more field experience as a medic, training her here only does so much."

"So you want me to _purposely_ get hurt?" he questioned incredulously.

Tsunade winked, a fruitful smirk on her tugged at the corners of her lips, "intuitive as ever, Hatake." The blond woman turned and began to shuffle around the stacks of paper on her desk before tossing him the briefing scroll.

"It's a simple C-rank mission; retrieve a scroll from the fire daimyo's runner, collect some intel and come home in one piece with my apprentice, got it?" She rubbed her temples, the urge for sake began to waft through thoughts as the beginning echoes of a migraine pressed against her, "the collection site is on the border of Sound, so you may be intercepted - engage only if followed."

Kakashi grasped the scroll and put it in his back pocket, "this seems to be a higher ranked mission than for Sakura and myself, Hokage—"

"Are you doubting my decision?" she grumbled, annoyance crept into the undertones of her voice, "you might be pleasantly surprised by her progress. Now get out of my office." She shooed him away, and with a flicker her best jounin disappeared.

Maybe the stubborn, aggravatingly elusive copy-ninja would listen this time.

xox

He arrived at the gate shortly after dawn the following morning, in the distance by the village's main gate he could spot a speck of pink speaking amicably with Kotetsu and Izumo, light laughter pilfered the air when he arrived.

She was punctual as ever and she leaned casually against the booth dressed in new battle attire, a paneled pink skirt covered spandex bottoms that complimented her vest and boots. A smile lit the faces of the trio — and he couldn't help but notice the way the two men leaned in closer to her and strung onto the conversation too closely.

She must have sensed him because she turned from the duo and glared at him, "you're late as ever, Kakashi-sensei," she scolded, gloved fingers gripped the sides of hips disapprovingly.

"Is that anyway to greet your sensei?" he lamented with a small sigh, "and here I thought you might actually miss me." He gave Kotetsu and Izumo a cordial nod, the two returned it with a small frown on their lips — and he responded with a crinkle of his eye, — _sorry to ruin your fun,_ it said.

This time a smile did grace her face, "I did."

How long had it been now? He had been taking extended missions lately — for his own sake. After Naruto decided to train with Jiraiya and Sasuke's resolution to chase after Orochimaru, it had left the remaining two members in limbo.

Truthfully, he couldn't blame his singular female student for seeking out the help of the Hokage. Someone who was gratefully respected throughout the different villages appealed to the young girl, and he wasn't dumb enough to miss the fact that she had felt left behind by her two teammates.

He put a hand on her head thoughtfully, reminiscent of the times he praised her for the good work she did. "Shall we go?"

Her eyes widened fractionally before she agreed and waved goodbye to the duo at the gate — their departure would land them close to the border by midnight if they were steadfast, any decent ANBU team could make it there before nightfall, but he didn't know if Sakura had kept up training her stamina with Tsunade.

Surprisingly, it wasn't until noon that they stopped to take a break. Their conversation had been kept to a minimum, his normally talkative student had remained relatively quiet during their running with sparse conversation here and there — but the reality of their team hung between them.

"You let your hair grow out," he stated off-handedly, her hair _had_ grown, it sat beneath her shoulder blades and made the copy-nin realize how much time had been lost between them.

She fingered her hair self-consciously, unknown to her the significance of her hair didn't go unnoticed by him, "yeah…I honestly haven't had time to cut it since I've been training with Tsunade-shisou," she sighed exasperatedly, "between medical ninjutsu, training practice, and volunteering at the hospital I hardly have any time to think about my hair."

"It looks like she's doing a good job, you didn't even ask for a break."

Sakura visibly perked at the compliment, her eyes flickered at him appreciatively, "yeah. You'd be surprised at what I can do now, Kaka-sensei." The old reminder of his name that Naruto famously coined drew back the memories of their team — and they both fell into a hushed silence.

The sound of leaves falling echoed around them, and it wasn't until Sakura put her canteen away did she make a move for them to go, "it's kind of weird — isn't it?"

He peered at her curiously, "what is, Sakura?"

"You and me, being here…without our team." Memories danced between them, they had traveled this same road numerous times — except now there was the significant loss of the loud-mouthed blond and seated presence of the Uchiha.

"Yeah," he remarked thoughtfully, "I can appreciate the silence without those two fighting."

Her eyes widened at the blasphemous comment, "you know you miss them fighting…wait—" she paused, as if upset with herself for not noticing earlier.

"Why did Tsunade-shisou only allow us two to take this mission? Shouldn't we need a three-man cell?"

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, "teams are spread thin right now — and I think between us two we constitute a three man team - no?" he teased playfully.

"Maybe you do," she conceded, "I still have a lot of training to do—"

"Don't be so hard on yourself," he cut in quickly. The severity of his tone darkened the light conversation between them, "Tsunade assigned this mission to us specifically, are you doubting her now?" he reprimanded — although he left out the hypocrisy of his own questioning yesterday.

She paused, careful to extract the words that her teacher had ingrained into her head, "no, no I'm not." Her shoulders squared and fingers flexed against the leather of her gloves — he had to wonder why she wore them now, but kept the question to himself.

"Good. Now we need to leave, but let's keep it at a leisure pace — we're already ahead of schedule anyway."

If there was one thing Sakura appreciated, it was the times when he went easy on them. He couldn't say that so confidently now, because an agitated frown crossed her face but she made no move to protest his suggestion.

Oh well.

He pulled out his book from his back pocket, the familiar feel of the item set him at ease as he opened it on the last chapter he had left on — which had annoyed him since the cliff hanger had him reeling that morning before he departed is apartment.

Time seemed to fade as he began to read the altercation between the heroine and man that she was supposed to kill — _her back arched off of the desk to press her breasts against the masked-man, he hissed in pleasure and began the slow decent down her throat with light, wet kisses to her skin. Their bodies began to synchronize in hurried, languid movements against one another, his erection pressed painfully into her inner thigh and she couldn't stop herself from mewling his name when he began to push himself into her hot, wet folds —_

" _Oh!_ "

"Kakashi-sensei!"

He peaked from the cover his book at Sakura, and he would be a liar to admit that he gave her an annoyed, tired eyeful - "what is it, Sakura?"

She glared at him accusingly, "why do you have to read that in public?!" she hissed at him like a feral cat that had it's tail pulled.

"Wha?…You've never had any objections before this."

Her eyes bugged out from her head, "yeah…well now we don't have Naruto or Sasuke-kun here to not make things awkward!"

"Awkward?" he cued innocently, "I don't see how this is awkward—"

"It's just us two! You can't read porn in public with an underage girl!"

_Ouch._

"I really don't see the issue—" really, there wasn't a single soul on this road for at least twenty miles, and the chances of anyone noticing the orange cover of the book were slim — this _was_ a limited edition, after all.

"Well I do! You're like a creepy, old family member reading that so casually next to me, what do you think someone walking by would think?"

"Sakura, you have to stop caring what others think of you," he taunted happily, "do you think I care?"

"Obviously not," she shot back with a well practiced eye-roll.

He paused with a huff, but for the sake of her fragile demeanor he decided to cave, "does it really bother you that much?" he questioned.

She gave him a slight nod and irrefutably innocent look, "yes, it does."

"Then what about this?" trained fingers pressed themselves together and with a small _pop!_ his appearance changed to his similar fifteen year old self, albeit shorter — and a bit lankier, otherwise there was a fresh feeling in his limbs that had gone unnoticed until now.

"What do you think?"

xox

Sakura remained eerily quiet after her sensei transformed, years had been swept away in a whirlwind of smoke that left the young girl thoroughly surprised at the person before her. His normally a-symmetrical mask now hung beneath both of his eyes, revealing both of his playful eyes and the scar that reminded her of the stories he had told them before about his previous team.

A sudden blush warmed her cheeks at the sight of this new, entirely _different_ person before her. The sense of their age difference was lost to the roseate girl, he still towered over her — but his body remained lithe and defined under the tight shirt that had replaced his normally slack jounin uniform. Twin katanas stuck out from his back that graced broad shoulders —

_No, what?!_

"K-Kaka-sensei?" she stumbled to comprehend who this person was, but his only response was the curious tilt of his head.

"What?" he asked, "you don't like it?" he gave himself a once over, it had been years since he had worn anything similar to this — but the familiarity of the clothing and his appearance were quick adjustments.

"No…It's fine," she stammered, she ripped her eyes away from him in fear that he might recognize how flustered she had become. Sea foam eyes pierced the ground before her, suddenly aware of how close her sensei had been standing next to her, his presence had turned from comfortable to giving her a hyper-awareness of his body with a dash of self consciousness.

But why?

She bit a plump, pink lip — she _did not_ think he was handsome.

That could be the only explanation, but it felt so weird to see him similar to her in age.

"Sakura," his voice still sounded familiar, it basked in deep waves that caressed her skin and gave her goosebumps, "are you comfortable now?"

She peaked at him again, compared to her sensei — this version of him held a more dominant presence, although she could see more of his face, she felt more distant. "Y-yeah," was all she could manage to murmur to him.

She had heard stories about his serious and ruthless he had been, although she found it hard to believe because he portrayed himself as aloof and laid back, yet even now she could feel the authoritative, daunting aura he eluded.

"If you say so," he commented, he returned to reading his book casually — as if he wasn't standing next to her as an entirely different person.

"You did all of this so you could read your book?" she grit out, irritation clearly defined by her accompanying glare.

"Of course," he stated, as if it were a normal, daily occurrence in his life. "Am I still a creepy-old family member now?" his voice held a level of teasing that hadn't been lost on her.

Sakura shook her head, "no, now you're just a creepy pervert who still reads porn in public," she shamed him, irritation and her frustration with the situation had taken a seat to her shock.

"That's not fair, you're the only one who ever has a problem with this, Sakura." Her name rolled off his lips casually, the syllables played off of his tongue with ease, which normally would have gone unnoticed by the fresh chunin, but now her eyes became fixated on the area of his masks where his lips parted beneath the material.

Sakura decided not to say anything in fear that she might slip and say something stupid, she had never had this much trouble communicating with her teacher before — if anything she had always found him to be the easiest to talk to, whether it had been from gaining his approval or listening to his advice — now she felt unsure.

"Whatever," she relented finally, and with a happy hum he returned to reading his book beside her. The road stretched before them, and what had been a fast moving mission now seemed incredibly slow with her embarrassed realization that her sensei had and was — unfairly good looking.

xox

They traveled through dusk relatively quickly, Sakura had abided her time by focusing on anything other than the man that was beside her, and she continually found it unnerving how he could read his book with a sense of calm serenity around him. They arrived close to the sound border by nightfall, the dark hours of the night hung under the dim light of the crescent moon, shadows and creatures began to make their presence known in the thick expanse of forest around them.

"The daimyo's runner should be meeting us by midnight at the rendezvous point west of the sound border, which means once we're there we can wait a while," his directions cut into the silence of the night.

Sakura merely nodded her head in mutual respect for her sensei, amazed that he can be a quiet-porn reading, light-hearted shinobi and a serious captain all in a matter of seconds.

He had been walking a few steps in front of her which had given her ample view of his back - shoulder blades cut into dense muscle that outlined the perimeters of his —

_Stop!_

She was sick, no matter if it was a simple henge or not, this man was her sensei, someone who would be equally sick that she had been eyeing him as anything other than that.

Her inner ramblings were cut short when in a sudden flurry of motion he swept her off her feet and pressed her into a thicket of bushes yards away from the break in trees that they had previously been occupying. "Kaka-!" he cut her off by clasping a gloved hand over her mouth, the taste of leather lingered on her lips when she struggled against his strong grip.

Her eyes pleaded with him to explain, but he shook his head. "Be quiet, there's someone coming." They would be of no use if they were ambushed before they got the scroll. Kakashi remained on top of her, his legs on either side of one of hers, knee planted between her legs while his hand still remained cupped over her mouth.

Their proximity sent her reeling, but she contained her shock to remain rigid beneath him. She could feel _everything_. His body molded over hers graciously, and she couldn't help but stare at the intense eyes that looked past the thickets of bushes that concealed them. His free hand planted itself on the other side of her head, thoroughly trapping her beneath him, her pulse heightened at the intimate position they were suddenly in, and she squirmed her lower half — unknowingly brushing her leg against his inner thigh.

This time, he took notice of their questionable position and felt her petite thigh brush against his member, his eyes darted to his singular female student and suddenly he removed himself from her persons — a sudden shock to his abdomen made his cock twitch pleasurably.

She scrambled onto all fours as if he had threatened her, and even in the dim light that slit through the trees he could see the flush on her cheeks.

He didn't have time to express his apologies and explain how it had been an accident — instead he grabbed her wrist and they began to run through the thicker areas of the forest.

"Where are we going!?" she hissed behind him.

He let go of her wrist shortly after, choosing not to respond - she would need to trust him. The only sound that filtered into their ear canals was the small crunch of their feet touching the ground. They arrived at the meeting point a few hours early, but fortunately they had lost the sound scouter nin in their mad dash here.

Finally, Sakura mulled over what had happened, "what was that, sensei!?" she kept her voice to a harsh whisper, still afraid that another scouting nin would stumble upon them.

"It was an accident," he mused, "they would have seen us otherwise." His eyes crinkled in mock sincerity — because in truth it _had_ been an accident, but it hadn't gone unnoticed how after he applied his henge, the stifled responses of his student lead to the blush on her cheeks and a new, seductive sway of her hips had replaced her previous gate.

He was a sick man.

Their silence during that time had given him the opportunity to _really_ look at his student and how she had grown in the past year. He had known somewhere, in the locked areas of his mind known that she always held the tendencies of a small nymph.

Her eagerness to please, the way she paraded herself and body with little, gentle touches she always found ways to bend her figure in the directional presence of men — he didn't know if she was conscious of it or not. He had become suspicious when he found her ass in the air whenever she doted around the men in her vicinity.

He gave a shallow sigh, never one to make conscious, bright choices in situations that didn't relate to violence — he stopped his train of thoughts. He could subsidize his harmful thoughts, maybe even explain how his life as a shinobi twisted his thinking, but nothing justified where his mind was headed now.

Sick, sick man.

"Right," she bit back grudgingly, "I knew those books were getting to you, sensei." She crossed her arms over her chest, causing pink tendrils to spill over her shoulders.

"I think I'm perfectly fine," he lied through his teeth, a teasing undertone still played in his voice, "however, I don't think it suits you to look at your _sensei_ like that, Sakura."

The blush on her face made the viridian color of her eyes contrast starkly against her pale skin, "w-what are you talking about?" she growled at him. He could see her fists clench, and he had to wonder what all she had learned in the past year or so under the Hokage's tutelage.

He waved her off to defuse the situation, "nothing," he chirped.

"Well…it's not my fault you…" she paused, and he quirked an intelligible brow at the way his student fumbled over her thoughts. She had always been a quick speaker of the heart, and in her embarrassment he found it rather endearing.

"I…?" he callously urged.

"It's not my fault you look like that with your henge!" she condemned, the flush that radiated on her face made him crinkle his eye in amusement.

"And how do I look?"

This shut up his normally assertive pupil, who now resided to training her eyes on the ground by his feet.

He would have continued, but a rustle in the bushes caught both of their attention and he immediately took a few cautions steps in front of Sakura. From a strain of close trees that were pressed together a masked shinobi emerged in front of them.

"Hatake?" the tall figure questioned the duo, but a slight step back in confusion made Kakashi aware of the circumstances around them.

"That's me," he asserted to the unknown male before them, "we have come on orders of the Hokage to retrieve a scroll from the Fire Daimyo," he relayed the information, and the masked shinobi stood there wearily.

"Why are you under the illusion of a henge?"

Kakashi had almost forgot, normally these runners passed along the scroll with as little as a second glance to the person receiving the scroll — but he had forgotten that he hadn't looked like this in years — he had not yet become Kakashi of the sharingan in his milder youth.

"Oh, this is because my student felt uncomfortable traveling with an older man," he explained thoroughly, much to the dismay of Sakura who stood there half-dumbfounded, half-annoyed.

The runner didn't say anything, probably found that it wasn't his business or that Konohaa shinobi had fallen under a society where professionalism was lacking. The rat-masked male handed over the scroll and disappeared in stoney silence, perhaps wondering why such a well known figure casually traveled under an advanced henge.

Fortunately, Kakashi had never caved or cared to the whims of other people.

xox

Of all nights, Sakura had to wonder why on _this_ particular night, it had to rain. It washed over the sound of leaves and dampened the forest floor that created a heavenly smell of dewy moss and floral scents that accented the air.

It was the same as their village on nights where the downpour allowed the entrance of spring, and she would wake up to the smell of nature, it simply reminded her of home. Except — now she was traveling at a meticulous speed through the forest without proper attire with her incredibly infuriating sensei who looked similar to a wet mop than the normal man she knew.

"Kaka-sen-" her voice cut off when a group of sound shinobi appeared before them. They stood as a rag tag group made up of two females and one male, larger than her and held a sick, violent aura around them.

Much too quickly, they drifted from her vision and one of the females attacked her with her overbearing sword, Sakura dodged naturally and began to search for her sensei. She couldn't find him anywhere in the darkness of the forest that became clouded by the rain, causing her vision to blur as she squinted, attempting to find him.

She dodged again, hands clinging to a tree branch so she could swing herself under it and use the momentum to launch herself into the line of the sword-wielding woman. The woman reared her sword to bring it down, but in a last minute maneuver Sakura's fist connected with the woman's chest — the sickening sound of the woman's breast plate cracking and rupturing through her chest made her stomach churn, but she would be damned if she wasn't going to prove herself on this mission.

In the distance she could hear her sensei fighting with the other male, the sound of his chidori lighting through the forest broke through the harsh pummels of rain.

She couldn't see him beyond the hails of rain, and she couldn't place the location of the last woman—

_Focus._

Until a large chunk of the ground splintered and began to close her in.

_An earth jutsu?_

She could see the shuriken tag bombs sink themselves into the mud that was enclosing around her, and Sakura gritted her teeth. Her legs began to sink in the ground, no matter how much chakra she applied to her legs she couldn't free herself.

The bombs lit the night with a blazing fire, and yards away Kakashi had stabbed a kunai through the man's skull — only to watch his student get stuck in a jutsu that she couldn't get herself out of, no amount of effort could propel him to get there in time, a sick bile began to etch at the back of his throat, memories of Rin and Obito darted through his vision —

Until the earth around him ruptured beneath his feet that caused trees to uproot themselves, nearly knocking himself off of his feet.

" _Shannarrrro!_ "

What he thought had been his student captured in the mud hut had been a substitution and his roseate student stood behind the disabled woman who had been caught in the devastation of the forest.

What had been a woman — he couldn't tell from the grotesque disfigurement of her body.

So _that's_ what the Hokage had been teaching her alongside medical ninjutsu.

He couldn't help but allow a proud tilt of his lips to admire the progress Sakura had made.

"Seems like you handled yourself well here," he complimented, surveying the destroyed forest around them. What had taken centuries for this planet to build had been destroyed by her fist in a matter of seconds.

_What incredible power…_

Sakura bounced over to him jovially, "sensei! Are you ok?" she asked, concern invaded his space when she began to inspect him methodically.

"Of course I am, don't worry about—"

She touched his stomach and low and behold, a large gash marred his skin — blood seeped through the open wound, between the rain and concern for Sakura he had somehow missed the fact that he had been injured in his fight.

"We need to get you somewhere so I can heal this," she admonished, she dropped down to her knees to inspect him closely, he took a hesitant step back, finding it particularly difficult to find the sense in seeing the top of her head so close to his groin.

"I'm fine, let's start heading back," he thwarted her concern in an attempt to brush her off, but her persistence had always been a thorn in his side.

She forced him to remain still, "no! If I don't fix this you could bleed out, or worse — infection could set in before we get back to the village. We need to find some place close and dry so I can heal you."

He attempted to fight it, but the reminder from the Hokage that Sakura needed field experience echoed in his ears, and he relented. "Alright, there should be a town south of here."

xox

The town never came.

They traveled diligently, and although Tsunade had told him to purposely get hurt for the sake of training Sakura, he had heeded her command better than expected. She had been able to stabilize the bleeding, but even his threshold for pain was being tested.

They had found a small cave to hide from the rain, instantly a side that he had not seen Sakura display took over. She directed him to lay down and begin to take off his shirt, he wanted to tease her — but found that the energy he needed to do that was failing him. Her hand pressed against his forehead and her concerned gasp let him know that he had fallen with a fever.

"I think the weapon was tipped with poison, Kakashi-sensei," she murmured worriedly.

"Good thing I'm in the hands of a capable medic."

Her delighted, but firm smile was all he could manage to see beyond the shadows of the cave.

She began to work on him steadfast, her brows knit together in concentration and in between his bouts of consciousness he could see the concern on her face. Her hands glowed a brilliant green that blinded him and forced him to blink back the sun spots in the dim lighting of the cave. After her fifth time demanding him to rest, he listened to her directions — grateful that Sakura had decided on her own to become the Hokage's apprentice.

He wouldn't have been able to utilize her skills like she did.

Guilt ate at the hallows of his stomach, but with most of his decisions he pushed them aside. This one would only follow.

Before — she had been a girl with above average ability in genjutsu and high analytical skills — except book smarts didn't save your life.

He knew he had in a minimal way abandoned her teaching to favorite Naruto and Sasuke — both of whom were gone. The boys had exceeded through sheer determination, and while he found it easier to protect her than teach her anything useful, as Tsunade said he had clearly seen her remarkable chakra control and failed to capitalize on it.

Her progress projected itself in the calm, soothing glow of her hands that put him to sleep.

Hours later, Sakura panted at the sudden exertion of her chakra reserves and watched Kakashi sleep peacefully, the moon hung at the right angle in the star speckled sky to allow light to filter through the cave and highlight his sleeping form. Even with the mask, he looked alarmingly serene, ashen hair had dried to stick in an array of different directions that forced her to push them from his face.

She had removed his hitai-ate so she could properly take care of his fever and stripped him of his shirt — something that wouldn't normally make her turn scarlet since she had seen plenty of well sculpted chests in her time doing routine exams at the hospital, but now a familiar face was here before her, not the jumbled faces that became a blur of one stranger.

His bandages were clean and she had managed to extract the poison, so now she had to keep a careful eye on his fever. Happy with her work, she hoped her shishou would be proud of her when they returned.

She leaned against the cold rock of the cave, the surface made chills run down her arms, but she closed her eyes — exhaustion began to dance around her, the mission caught up with her in one overpowered lunge of her energy. She refused to close her eyes, there could still be sound ninja patrolling the area — they still had a scroll to deliver.

"Sakura," he said lightly, her eyes snapped open and she leaned over him, checking on him again to see if he was in any pain.

"Are you ok?" she questioned quickly, "are you experiencing any pain?" she began to run her fingers over his abdomen, making sure there was no acute swelling by his organs.

"I'm fine, thank you—" his voice was raspy, in a refined moment of realization she intuitively reached over to grab his canteen and paused. However, she didn't want him moving around in case his wound re-opened.

"Sensei-"

"I know, just take off my mask and give me some, please."

Unmarked territory hung between them, Kakashi didn't think much of it — whereas Sakura had spent days with her team in an attempt to see underneath their sensei's mask, and here she was going to see him without a mask _and_ younger.

A sense of satisfaction that she would be able to see him unmasked before Naruto made her heart beat jump into her throat.

Hesitantly, she reached over to peel the mask off. It clung onto his face, but slowly she revealed the face she had envisioned for years. His connected turtleneck mask now hung around his neck, and Sakura couldn't help the dusting of pink that overwhelmed her cheeks.

Handsome had been an understatement.

What she had thought would be a regular faced male turned her into an awful liar. His pointed nose protruded down a slim slope that eased into his high cheek bones — reminiscent of Sasuke but entirely different, they were now at a similar age but there hung a masculinity about him that made her hold her breathe. His jawline could kill someone, and she couldn't escape the frailty of the air between them, whereas most men held a rugged handsomeness to them, he stood above them with a face that demanded attention. Gentle lips parted that left her dazed, her eyes remained fixated on the way they smacked when he finished drinking his water.

Then his eyes opened, eyes that held a plethora of emotion by only showing one — and now they melded into a whole face that left her honey hued.

"Better?" she asked him, if only in an attempt to distract herself from memorizing the curves of his face.

"Much, although it is a bit cold…"

She caste him a weary glance, "do you want my vest? I tried drying it while you were asleep, but it's still a little damp," she offered him.

He glanced at her, he _should_ say no. He _should_ get up and tell her he was ok to go, that he had returned to the village in much worse conditions. He _could_ allow her to give him her vest, but the sensible side of him hummed in disgust at the thought that he even contemplated his student.

Had it been that long that he had a good lay that he held these punishable thoughts?

He closed his eyes, internally struggling with the demons that wrestled with his sensibility.

Another, more tangible and familiar side of him recognized that they were technically the same age under the henge, but falsities wouldn't overcome the fact that although she was no longer a child, this was his student.

"No, it's ok. I'll put my shirt back on," he finished, the battle had been won.

She remained by his side throughout the night, he offered to take the next watch, and after her protests exhaustion had overcome her courtesy — she had lied down and instantly fallen asleep on the opposite side of the cave. Not that there was a lot of room for them to wiggle in, her back pressed against the cave wall, her body curled in on itself and her finger tips brushed the lengthy strands of his hair.

He remained eerily still, afraid that any movement made by him would wake her up. An hour or so passed like this, her fingers unconsciously toying with his hair that made his body relax — until she curled herself beside him.

A newfound warmth pressed itself into his side, and Kakashi bit back a frustrated groan. He glanced down at the body beside him, her hair messed itself around them, tickling his chest while she continued to snuggle into the warmth his body provided.

He couldn't complain, he _was_ cold.

The copy-ninja froze, unsure whether or not she would pummel him when she woke up. He had to give her recognition where it was due, a year had improved her abilities, and the young girl that found herself lost on the whims of a boy that was on a narrow, dark path had forced her to grow in his absence.

The two half crushed corpses he had seen after their battle were a testament to her brute strength, (compliments to Tsunade's training) something he wasn't sure he could master. He had taken the quick way out from his failure, which he shouldered. Under better guidance — perhaps his team would still be here, instead of him and Sakura intimately sharing a cave by the sound border.

Another hour, and slowly she had clung to him, her chest pressed delicately into his side. Their breathing synced naturally, the only sounds that entered the cave was the hush of the rain outside, once a raging storm had dulled to a delicate drizzle.

She began to shiver, her open side sent spasms throughout her body, effectively causing her to squirm against him. With a heavy sigh he maneuvered himself around her petite form so his arm wrapped around her shoulder so he could slowly prop them up. Careful not to stir the pink kunoichi, he placed her in his arms — although his wound hurt, it would be best for both parties if she leaned against him in his arms rather than embrace him subconsciously.

Her shivering eased shortly after, and another hour passed into the loneliest hours of the night undisturbed. The storm had ceased entirely by now, and the moon kissed the top of the treetops from their view in the cave. Kakashi admired the scenery, nights like this fell under the impressionable nights that brought a sense of calm in the dreary days that he had become accustomed to.

"S-sensei?" Sakura lifted herself from their comfortable position. Confused by her surroundings, she blinked back her dreariness, hyper aware of their proximity. She yelped in mild shock, unsure how they had fallen into such a intimate situation.

"Sorry," he apologized, although it really was more of a means to calm her than show true sincerity.

"How did you….?" her voice drifted, the air became stale around them — the cold crept between them like a barrier, and they were both aware of the drift within the cave.

"Technically, you did," he corrected, "you decided to cuddle against me when you fell asleep, I just took necessary action to keep us warm."

"By forcing us to cuddle!?" her voice raised several octaves, in return she received a pointed look.

"No," he sighed, "you were cold, I was cold — you're lucky to not be suffering hypothermia by now thanks to me, so you're welcome."

Leave it to Hatake Kakashi to nestle himself in a lewd situation and deflect blame onto the other person. "You're ridiculous," she huffed. Her shock had been subdued by the chill within their enclosure, and she began to shiver once again. Her clothes weren't entirely dry, and she blamed herself for not thinking ahead and packing a jacket or spare blanket.

She had little time to think about her body's lack of warmth when he grasped her wrist and brought her closer to him. Her face laid in the crook of his neck and her body melded to his own, "wha-?" she had little time to question his action, that familiar sense of embarrassment washed over her, the scent of oak and dirt and everything _male_ worked her descent into shocked silence.

She breathed him in softly, Sakura had always found his scent comforting — the familiar times when he held her and had taken her to the hospital, or he had come in time to save her — this scent is what infiltrated her senses that made everything void aside from him.

"You smell good, Kaka-sensei," her statement held an innocent intonation, but it was entirely like Sakura to make a perfectly innocent statement hold sultry undertones.

Their pulses heightened the tension between them, Sakura could swear she could hear her heartbeat threaten to break, the blood pounded in her ears — and a new nervousness swallowed her. On the surface, this man shared her age in physical appearance— yet ironically true to his word, if she looked underneath the underneath — he was ten years her senior.

Tentatively, she gripped herself closer to him.

What had overcome her?

Thoughts of Sasuke that normally infiltrated her daily thoughts had been swiped at the appearance of her sensei's introduction back into her life. It concerned her how quickly her mind had been devoid of the Uchiha and replaced by the dominant presence of this man.

Her hand shakily reached forward to brush the stray strands from the middle of his forehead, unaccustomed to this look on him the backs of her fingers tickled his forehead, sending an electric wave of shock through her system. Eyes that were normally covered and held a distinguished, yet lazy maturity about them had been replaced by youthful —although hardened eyes of Kakashi.

Emerald stared into his hazy, bedroom eyes. The mismatched black and sharingan stared back at her, her hand reached forward once more —

He gripped her wrist suddenly, stopping her movement. "Sakura," his deep, velvet voice echoed around her, "what are you doing?" his breath was raspy, she had never heard him like this before.

She didn't know what to say, words failed her and she retracted her hand as if she had been burned by him. Self-conscious, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear — _I really need to get that cut._

He huffed, indulgent and frustrated at their peculiar situation that had dismantled itself within a day. It was wrong, any respectable man or shinobi would walk away, no less someone that had been entrusted with the safety and care of a student. Although she had grown, she still held a painful, ignorant innocence about the world.

She sat on top of him in one swift motion, careful to avoid his wound.

His eyes nearly bugged from his head, "Sakura—"

"Sensei," she admonished carefully, "do you think…you could help me with something?"

She gave him a peculiar look, and he couldn't help but wonder where his lovestruck student had gone — or was her bravery due to the henge?

He decided to thwart her reserve, "you understand this is only a henge, right?"

Few things surprised the elusive copy-ninja, but his singular female student wiggling her hips sitting atop his lap in a dim-lit cave in the middle of Fire country to answer his question caused his body to snap. He jerked his hips upwards, and a small gasp escaped her parted lips, his erection twitched beneath her and she could feel his length situated between her thighs.

Slowly, his hands reached to her hips and gripped the cloth of her skirt, calloused fingers dug into the soft flesh of her hips, his eyes narrowed in hazy lust — and she couldn't help but get lost in the presence of him.

The daring kunoichi reached forward again, smoldered by his gaze she tentatively pressed her lips against his own, even at this age her body dwarfed his own and her arms slipped around his neck.

The kiss was hesitant, it tested the boundaries of their relationship and it was wrong, wrong for the right reasons. It shouldn't have coiled their stomachs deliciously, it measured the line they were about to cross — a line that could condemn him to a jail cell.

He had spent many nights in a jail cell as a prisoner of war, but a prisoner of his own village didn't bode well with him, "we have to stop," he pulled his head away from her and turned it to the side, "we wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for the henge." He had to try and be the adult here. An impressionable, young student being seduced? The Hokage's disciple no less.

He would burn.

This time she sat back, her butt leaned on his upper thighs which gave him some breathing room, "so it's alright for me to be assigned to kill someone, but I can't do this?" she reiterated the mantra of most underage girls in this line of work.

Her fingers toyed with the edges of his mask that pooled around his neck, until her thumb traced over the smooth skin of his jaw, "I've taken preparatory courses for rape, Tsunade-shishou even recommended for me to take a course on gathering intel…" she left the comment up in the air and Kakashi remained quiet, understanding the gravity of their world.

"I want to do this," she finished boldly.

He had always been someone she truthfully admired - if there was someone she could trust, it was him. Fateful to a fault, he had been there in every situation where she had needed him - maybe a step before. She didn't want something this special carelessly thrown around, and she knew plenty of kunoichi that came in completely defiled, truthfully she was surprised this subject wasn't touched upon more in the silent webs of what women in this field had to go through.

He reached around her to grasp one of her salmon locks and placed it over the curve of her breast, thoughts lingering between the bond they had created and what repercussions would come after this night if he slept with her.

"Why?" he gave her a speculative look, "I'm supposed to believe you've given up on your dream of Sasuke? I would think this would be something you want to share with him first," his words cut through her. As much as he wanted to tear off her shorts and and dip himself into her, he wanted her to be positive, any mention of her childhood love should douse her inclinations towards him.

Her eyes averted from his own, a forlorn mask crossed her face — but unlike before where tears would come easily, a reserved silence placated her. "Sasuke-kun has chosen his path," she declared, perhaps more for herself than him, "I do still love him, but I understand now what he has to do — and it doesn't involve me. It hurts, but I'm not naive enough to think that there is going to be a romantic outcome between us in the future."

"And you think that will happen between us, Sakura-chan?"

She smiled at him, and in a slow migration this young girl that he had first come to see pine after the Uchiha had morphed into a young adult conscious enough to make her own decisions about her body.

"Can you…please just make love to me?" her delicate hands gripped either side of his face, "there's no one else I trust more than you, sensei." Her eyes held his own gaze, viridian tempted smokey grey and like a shot of adrenaline the world began to spin around them.

They became alarmingly aware of their proximity with one another, and his hands on her thighs ushered her forward to grind herself on his bulge. She gasped pleasurably, her hands began to lose themselves over the defined curves of his chest, and with a little bit of guidance she began to grind her hips into his erection.

"Fuck—" he panted, the built up frustration from this day between them revealed itself in the pre-cum that stained his pants.

His mouth attacked hers in a heated kiss that made her part her lips, her gasp got lost between them when his tongue pushed into her mouth. Their tongues danced with one another until she nipped at his bottom lip to dare him.

The small twinge of pain made his stomach coil painfully tight, he left heated kisses on her jaw down the length of her throat and dipped his tongue into the crevice of her collarbone that elicited a delighted moan.

Her body began to pick up a rhythm against him, nimble fingers began to play with his hair and run through his scalp. Selfishly, he wanted to dominate her — he wouldn't lie and say he's a saint when he wanted her to remember him when other men would undoubtedly come into her life.

A small growl erupted from his chest.

He began to unzip the front of her vest, their lips met in another fiery kiss that echoed their inner resolve. Sakura moaned into his mouth, the cold air began to tickle her skin when he pushed her vest and bra off of her shoulders. Her breasts bounced free from their confines from her bra, and she watched as his eyes hungrily took in the sight of her pert nipples.

Crimson decorated her face, and to ease her nerves he ushered her into a much milder kiss, his hands traced up the bare sides of her stomach until his hands cupped her breasts - full breasts that fit perfectly into his hands.

His thumbs flicked over the tips of her nipples and a sudden, guttural moan teased the air around them.

Gods, he could get addicted to that sound.

"Kaka-sensei," she breathed into their kiss as he continued to play with her nipples.

He shouldn't get such a thrill from that sound, the way her lips parted delicately, and like the blossom flower her name represented, she was beginning to bloom before him. He twisted a hand into the nape of her skull to grip a handful of her hair and tugged her neck backwards so he could expose her neck fully to him.

Pale, sun-kissed skin went under seize to his mouth that lavished her sensitive skin with wet, demanding kisses.

Her body shivered involuntarily, the cave began to fill with the sounds of her harmonious mewls and moans. A dampness centered in between her folds and Sakura was sure her panties were wet— a hot, pressured feeling began to coil in the pits of her stomach dangerously. Pleasure thrummed through her body as he continued to toy with her expertly.

Emerald shot open when he closed his lips around her nipple, static jolted through her body to pool into the continuous fire that collected in her abdomen. Daringly, she began to reach for the buttons on his pants, slowly — he held his breath when she began to unbutton them, — she locked his gaze again.

His pants came down and they began to maneuver them off but careful enough to not disrupt his wound. His erection sprung free with his boxers and her eyes tentatively looked down to see the wet stains on the material covering him.

He hissed suddenly when a delicate hand reached between them and her thumb traced over his clothed tip. "Sakura…" he breathed huskily, the cave became perceptively hot between them while her hand continued to trace his length with her fingers.

Her thumb rubbed over the top of his head, another low groan emitted into the air, and it made her incredibly hot to know she derived this feeling from her sensei, someone who she admittedly had always admired — his power, even under this henge made him impressively adept.

He let go of her hair and in a quick movement he flipped her onto her back, she yelped in surprise to the sudden change of position and clung to him — the cold surface of the cave caused an array of goosebumps to form over her back but he once again had her trapped beneath him.

"Kakashi…" she squirmed deliciously under him, he paused to capture her lips in another sensuous kiss.

"Ah, aren't you forgetting something?"

He disregarded logic — it should sicken him to tease her like this, but he couldn't deny the flush on her cheeks, the way she panted and rubbed her core against him to get the friction to help appease her ache.

Logic lost to passion.

" _Sensei!_ " she moaned when he popped a nipple into his mouth. He worked diligently to undo the hooks of her skirt, the panels fell away to reveal her spandex clad bottom. The weight of the situation pressed on Sakura, but the insatiable ache between her legs overcame any thoughts on what they were about to do. She continued to grind herself against him, but rubbing herself only fanned the fire between them like an endless blaze.

His fingers hooked over her spandex and they both held a collective breathe when the material began to reveal inches of her porcelain skin. The rain picked up beyond the cave, but the world was lost to the duo, their only attention surrounded one another in the small expanse of the cave.

He pulled her spandex off of her and had to stifle a laugh at her choice of underwear.

Pink.

"I never would have assumed you would match your hair color."

Her cheeks burned, "well it wasn't as if I _planned_ on doing this," she scoffed.

He leaned forward to leave a gentle kiss on her cheek with a smile playing across handsome features. He moved himself to work his way down her stomach. Tantalized, peppered kisses were left on her abdomen and trailed them down to the juncture of her thighs. Experienced fingers began to tug on her underwear, and a break in her brave resolve made her shudder at the proximity of his lips near her folds.

Slowly, he spread her legs and began to expose her to him when he rid of her underwear. He sucked in a breathe at the delicious sight before him, "you're so wet."

The statement made her almost close her legs in embarrassment, but a firm hand prevented her from doing so.

He watched her face to gauge her reaction and dipped a finger between her folds which earned him a generous moan. Sakura opened her legs further - the expose' of her whole body to him made his cock twitch in furious anticipation.

"You're beautiful, Sakura," he commented before inserting a finger into her. She gasped and arched her back off the floor, it was too much — her insides were liquefied fire as he began to pick up a gentle pace to stretch her for him.

Languid moans echoed around him, "Sensei….I need you," she pleaded between breaths — she couldn't focus. Not with how his finger was rocking into her.

"Need what?" he teased.

" _You..!_ " she nearly cried out when he inserted another digit.

He wanted her ready, he wanted her to remember this night — remember him. A selfish, sick man he was, and he held no arguments against that statement. He lowered his lips to suckle on her bulb while he worked his fingers in her.

" _Oh!_ "

She exploded, an eternal void of white around the peripherals of her vision blurred her consciousness. _Nothing_ had ever felt this good, fire rocked her small frame that made her toes curl — she knew sex could be pleasurable, but he would ruin her forever.

He continued to suck on her clit throughout the waves of her orgasm, her eyes clenched shut and the echoes of ecstasy he caused her made his balls tighten.

Kakashi had always been a patient man, but his body began to lose it's reserve to the woman beneath him.  
Her comedown left her limbs reminiscent of jello, her walls clung onto his fingers and she couldn't do anything but reach forward in the haze of her orgasm to help him move his boxers that joined their disarray pile of clothing. His length sprung free and she couldn't help but look at him in heated anticipation.

It wasn't enough, she needed _him_.

Her body ached for him, and he read her graciously. He settled himself between them so she could wrap her legs around his waist. He blinked back the white hot intensity of their situation—

He hated himself for even saying it—

"Sakura," he said through husky breaths, "we can stop—"

She leaned forward and kissed him — hot and frenzied, she stopped his morals in the wake of his break of clarity.

He lost himself in her, their mouths battled each other in rivaled attempts to dominate one another, and he only broke away to rub his tip against her slick folds. He hissed — his body moved forward to prod her entrance before taking her in one sharp movement.

" _Ah!_ "

He filled her entirely — stretched her walls and Sakura bit down on his shoulder to stifle the gasp of pain that radiated through her. The initial shock of him filling her and breaking her barrier dulled her senses with the vicious sting, but years of being a kunoichi worked in her favor to bite back the pain.

He kissed her neck, it took every inch of well-trained resolve to not fuck her into the floor — but he stilled himself to let her adjust to his girth. They remained like that for what felt like an eternity for the copy-nin, but finally he felt her hips begin to move against him.

Slowly, he pulled out until only an inch of him filled her before he snapped his hips forward again. "Fuck!…You're so tight," he breathed out. Her walls clung to him desperately and if he had been any ordinary man with lack of patience he wouldn't have been able to control himself.

"Sensei…" words and sense had escaped her — body acclimated she tilted her hips upwards so he could fill her completely. He took her lead and began to push himself into her, his self-control was beginning to break — between her soft pleading he began to heed her cries he thrust himself forcefully into her.

They lost themselves.

His hips began to pummel into her own, her nails dragged across his back so she could cling onto him and the adulterated sound of their skin slapping one another caused the silver-haired male to hook his arm under her knee and lift her leg so he could angle himself further into her.

He took everything from her, spots began to dance across her vision and when he reached there her body began to lose itself to him. "- _Ooh_! Sensei, -faster!" her body felt like it could erupt — her legs began to clench around him and he could feel her walls quiver around him — he didn't know how long he could last.

"Sakura-!" he grunted, his free hand reached forward to grasp her slim neck, his fingers clenched just beneath her jowls to choke her — her moans began to muffle under the increased pressure of his tactful fingers.

He enveloped her, her body became a harmonious thrum of ecstasy and she began to climb higher into her ascent of the impending edge.

"Look at me," he commanded.

Their eyes clashed — mismatched, lust filled eyes gridlocked with her colors of spring, the vigorous intensity reached the apexes of their bodies meeting together, he pounded himself into her soft core. He fueled a new, untouched place within her with a new vigor when her walls began to clamp viciously down on him—

She was _so_ close—

Sakura almost closed her eyes but a possessive growl from the man atop her made her eyes shoot open, the sharingan spun brightly in the darkness of the cave and white surrounded her.

" _Kaka-sensei!_ " Her orgasm tore through her throat, every fiber of her body began to buzz to life with sick pleasure that made her body convulse to his whim, Kakashi continued to pump into her, his ears danced to life with the sound of his name on her lips and he felt his own climax in the reaches of her.

"Ungh—" a guttural sound made his body tighten when his seed spilled into her, her walls milked him vigorously — the spasms of his body made him quiver before he collapsed on top of her, their breathing echoed in the small cave as they rode out the last tidal waves of their orgasms.

They laid there for several long minutes, her body lay limp beneath his — he could have fallen asleep under the fateful spell of the calm rain outside the cave and warmth shared between them. "Kaka-sensei?" his pupil shifted beneath him and he finally willed himself to lift himself back up.

This time — their eyes met again and a small, delicate smile lit up her face.

"Thank you," she murmured softly, she reached up and kissed his lips gently — and although he couldn't understand why she was possibly thanking him, through his small window of clarity after the haze of his orgasm he could only think of how he had corrupted her.

"Don't thank me, Sakura—" his eyes crinkled happily contemporary to how he felt. "It was all my pleasure," he teased dolefully.

He brushed that thought aside— this had been a mutual decision between them both.

A damp coldness disrupted the mood between them when he pulled out of her. The foreign thought that he had made a mistake suddenly pressed upon him "are you—?"

Sakura silenced him with another kiss, "don't worry, I've been on birth control for a while now."

They spent the next few minutes cuddled against one another, the cold atmosphere of the cave crept in — but they remained touching either softly — her fingers brushed along his chest while he gently combed his fingers through her hair. He had never been a fan of intimacy after sex, especially with a virgin because it led to unwarranted expectations of affection and feelings.

But this was Sakura.

Someone who he couldn't escape and who he didn't want to escape from. He had time to worry about the consequences of this decision when they returned home. Part of him wanted to release the henge, to show her who she really gave herself up to and see the look of shock that would perpetuate her features once she realized this had been a mistake on both of their parts.

Another, more reachable part of him wanted to continue to lay there with her, like this, together.

The relative silence was blasted with her concerned gasp.

"Sensei! Your wound opened back up!"

The mood shattered in a matter of seconds and reality caved on them both, they would return to their village with the memory of an eventful night due to the innocence of a jutsu practiced and learned by genin, but had led them to this doorstep and pivotal turn of their bond.

Neither of them would think the other could possibly want to do this again-

but they had been wrong before.


	2. A Day in Winter

**Chapter Two  
**

* * *

 

 

"Are you two ok?"

The duo shifted uncomfortably next to one another in the face of the woman that could rip them limb from limb, heal them – and do it again.

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou," Sakura confirmed, her hands were clasped together behind her back, wrung together in fear that the short-tempered woman would catch onto something, but contrary to her face that held a newfound blush —her teacher merely remained quiet before the two-man team.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"We were able to gather the scroll at the hand-off point with little resistance, however a group of Sound nin followed us and we had to engage, Hokage-" Kakashi cut in, primarily to divert any unnecessary attention from their rigid figures.

"Did they say what they wanted?"

Kakashi shook his head, "there were three that attacked us, I was able to disable one while Sakura handled two of them herself – quite well may I add."

The compliment made Sakura visibly perk, the memories of their battle that had been a prelude to…her cherry faced look towards her sensei caste a delighted smile to cling to her lips.

"I told you, Hatake," Tsunade huffed, but the confident and proud jut of her shoulders commended all suspicions she previously held. "It seems you two did ok, although I will have to promote the mission to B rank seeing as this could possibly have something to do with Orochimaru."

The room stilled between the trio, Sakura bit her lip in silent anticipation whereas Kakashi casually glanced out the window, their team had once stood together in these walls and due to the inability of him being able to be the glue that they needed – now he stood beside his female student, the weight of this failure unsettled both of them — for different reasons.

"Why would Orochimaru be involved?" Sakura inquired first.

Tsunade sighed, her former teammate continued to be a reason for her perpetual aging, "we have reason to believe that the information contained in that scroll involves the warring factions within different villages – primarily due to the Akatsuki's sudden emergence."

Sakura furrowed her brows in confusion, but Kakashi's hindsight had always been his forte', "and Orochimaru wants to know what villages he can plant his men in," the copy-nin concluded.

Sakura – still confused, glanced between her shishou and sensei with a renewed, acute annoyance. "Who are the Akatsuki?" the name didn't seem to hold any viable importance – at least to her knowledge, but she knew this was classified information their Hokage was telling them.

The two adults ignored her question.

"Exactly," Tsunade explained, "it seems that multiple reports have been coming out of Amegakure that there have been sightings of different members, and now the Fire Daimyo is concerned since the Earth Daimyo was killed three days ago."

The words hung thickly in the air, if not because of the implications of what was happening then possibly _could_ happen.

"And you're thinking Orochimaru is concerning himself with the Akatsuki and ordered that kill on the Earth Daimyo-?" Kakashi hoped that he was wrong, for the sake of his two student's welfare.

"From the information we have, it seems so. If not to have a hand in whatever is happening, then at the very least with some ulterior motive pertaining to this village and the Fire Daimyo. What makes the situation more suspicious is that the Daimyo had been surrounded by ANBU from different villages highly trained in genjutsu, only someone with astounding genjutsu abilities could have dismantled their henge," Tsunade concluded.

Sakura's eyes fell downcast; she knew what this could possibly mean – although they hadn't outwardly spoken it "So those people that attacked us were sent by Orochimaru, which means that Sasuke-kun could have himself implicated since he left with him…"

Her hands clasped together in front of her chest, she held the feeling there - that hard, horrible pain.

Pity fell on the pink haired kunoichi, "we're not going to make any assumptions on Sasuke's knowledge of what is going on," Tsunade attempted to comfort, but found no use in sugar coating the severity of the situation, "however, taking the Earth Daimyo's life means a direct threat to this village since it's only been a few years that Orochimaru attacked Konoha during your chunin exams – those sound ninja attacking you only confirmed what the council and I have been suspecting."

Kakashi could see how the words hung before them, as intuitive as he was. If Sasuke found himself involved in this at all – there would be nothing that Sakura, Naruto, and he could do to help prevent the sure death of their befallen member of Team Seven.

"But Sasuke wouldn't do that-!" Sakura defended, against her better judgement old habits and her _belief_ that he wouldn't do that still held validity in her heart.

"He wants to avenge his family, he wanted to kill his brother – he wouldn't go as far as become Orochimaru's subordinate to involve himself in killing the Earth or Fire Daimyo, it just doesn't make sense…" her voice held little restraint, she wanted to believe her words – and she _did_ , but the forlorn looks that her respective teachers gave her made her chest clench.

"—Besides, isn't his brother still alive? He also has the sharingan, and since he defected from the village isn't it more likely that he could be involved?" her voice broke a little under her resolve, the words could have been convincing if he hadn't taken such a dark path.

 _"_ _Sakura…Thank you…."_

The words still touched a place deep within her.

"Sakura," Tsunade's thick voice held no room for grief-stricken emotion, "you need to understand what is happening. The only reason I'm telling you two this highly classified information is because Sasuke was apart of Team Seven-"

" _Is-"_ she tried to correct, but Kakashi cut her off this time. He could see his student unraveling at the news, because although she had claimed that her feelings were disconnected from the Uchiha's in the face of losing her virginity, he should have known better than to think that she had been mature enough to face something like this

"What are you expecting us to do?" Kakashi's voice was raspy and grim, at this point Sasuke's involvement was mere speculation, and it would do nothing but hinder her progress as a kunoichi to worry over Sasuke once again.

"I may need to send you both on an extended mission near sound to help track Sasuke, I would tell Naruto…" she paused, the decision of becoming Hokage creased her brow, "but he's training under Jiraiya still and I don't want him running back here under prepared, especially where the Akatsuki can easily find him."

"Have there been any reports?" Kakashi questioned, his visible eye gave Sakura a sideways glance — she had sunk into herself, the face that had twisted so generously for him the night before remained stoic, although she had never been adept in concealing how she _truly_ felt.

"Not yet, and under normal circumstances I wouldn't have bothered to think about putting this on your shoulders or assign you this mission – but with Akatsuki gaining momentum, our ANBU and jounin are spread throughout different villages, but I felt you both had a right to know."

"Thank you, Tsunade-shishou," Sakura's voice quivered, but Kakashi couldn't help but notice a new, renewed vigor of energy within her.

"When will we be dispatched?"

"Not yet, and maybe you won't if we get accurate reports on Orochimaru's involvement with the homicide, but I'll let you know. Go get some rest—" the duo moved to say their goodbyes until the authoritative voice of their Hokage stopped them.

"Sakura – hospital training tomorrow at dawn, and get that wound patched up at the hospital, Hatake. I don't want to see you training or running around the village with Gai unless you're _completely healed_."

Kakashi feigned ignorance, "you forget I have my own _personal_ medic, no need for a hospital now."

Sakura's face burned at her sensei's callous appreciation of her — and fortunately her back had been turned to the hokage so she could hide her embarrassment.

_That pervert…!_

xox

"Do you think Sasuke-kun did it?" Sakura asked the man that she had spent the night prior curled up against. She could remember the distinct smell of his masculinity, the way he had made her — her memories were consumed by him.

Their trip back the next morning had been pleasant, any sign of awkward behavior had escaped the mood between them, but the moment they entered the village the fruitful _pop!_ of his henge being released made Sakura realize what had just happened.

She _knew_ , yet the man that had worked her body now towered over her, and the outline of his entirely _adult_ body stuck out beneath the familiar jounin outfit she had seen for years. Their stark difference in size made her tilt her head back, and she had remained mute when they made the walk to the Hokage's office, face as red as a ripe tomato.

Her mind had been consumed by the thoughts of her sensei, and she had stood rigid in front of the Hokage — afraid, more than anything.

Until the mention of Sasuke reared itself.

Kakashi could see this, what had been a young woman last night seemed to dwindle within their village. He didn't know what to say that could possibly ease the fright she held for their former teammate.

"I'm not going to lie and say I believe he's completely innocent," Kakashi premised, because in _their_ world, it would be better for her to learn the hard truth of what happened to those you loved dearly that chose a path that you couldn't save them from. "He could have been involved, but it wouldn't make sense for him to implicate himself like that."

Her eyes remained settled in the distance, beyond them — no matter that the day was beautiful, the fresh showers from the storm the night before had hit their village and everything held a newfound glitter to it when the sun caressed the scenery.

"If Orochimaru gave him a good offer, maybe information on his brother's whereabouts — then it's likely that he may have done it."

Sakura stopped walking, the sun hung sourly in the sky now — Kakashi wanted to reach forward and comfort her, but her confident nod and sparkle in her eyes prevented him - among other things.

"We still have to believe in him," she reached forward and grasped his gloved hand within her own, a fresh smile on her face, "I know Naruto isn't here, but we have to have faith — for both of them."

The road they were on was empty, but Kakashi couldn't help but feel uneasy that _someone_ would come across them, he snapped his hand away from hers — "we can't do this here, Sakura."

It had been an innocent touch of his fingers, something that _could_ have been shared between a teacher and student, and he hadn't meant to snap at her — but he remembered why he never touched virgins - let alone his student. The memory of their night displayed itself before him, but today he felt insurmountable guilt — he should have been the one to say no.

The words made her perceptibly still, and they stung — because somewhere she thought that _maybe_ their bond would improve, that they could rely on each other.

"Oh, right." She grasped her offending hand in her other, and she bit back the urge to ask why. Of course — she knew they wouldn't be able to display open affection in the village, but she hadn't expected him to be so curt.

He tucked his hands in his pockets; the news of Sasuke, his deflowering of a certain kunoichi, and what uncertain future lay before them made him clench his jaw — suddenly he felt much tired than he had been when they arrived.

"Do you need me to walk you home?" he asked her — to be courteous, they both knew she could walk herself home, if not by pummeling anybody that threatened her.

"No, it's ok. Do you need me to finish healing your wound?" her eyes scanned over her handiwork and she reached forward to get one last glance until the jounin took a firm step back out of her finger's nimble reach.

"No," he said abruptly.

"But—"

"I'll go to the hospital. You better get home and let your parents know you're ok."

Well _that_ effectively doused ice on his impure thoughts.

Sakura gave him a hard stare, although he could see a refined wetness in her eyes. She tugged on her lower lip, overcome with his brusque, clipped attitude towards her. It hurt, but the young girl knew somewhere that he was struggling with what happened. She had to expect this, but it still hurt.

The news had affected her, too.

She had asked him to help her, but she didn't expect him to brush her off once they returned home — she had to keep a level head about this.

They _were_ still on the same team.

"Get some sleep, Kaka-sensei." She turned on her heel and disappeared in the direction of her home. He couldn't avoid her, and she couldn't avoid him — what they did would remain in the deep shadows of the forest within that cave.

The faint scent of tears infiltrated his nostrils.

She left him on an old bridge, frustrated with himself and alone — where she stood bright, pink painted and _present._ He remained alone, a lack of color in his life dulled his senses — grey had always suited him.

 _S_ olitude had always been a grey color, he presumed.

xox

He did not get some sleep.

Quite the opposite, actually.

"Hell, I've had missions where it sent me balls deep into the next woman I saw—" the small howl of laughter shared between Genma and Anko echoed around the grey ninja in the corner of the bar they occupied.

"Right, like I'm supposed to believe that it's _that_ easy for you when you come crawling back to me," Anko purred relentlessly in Genma's ear. Her arms draped over the brown haired male and nipped at his ear, a snide smirk settled on his friend's face.

What should have normally been a normal display of talk between these two that Kakashi had gotten used to currently grated on his nerves.

He shot back his beer, hopefully he could get horridly drunk and forget that he had slept with his student, _then_ he could wake up with an incurable hangover and figure out what to do.

In the meantime, he wanted to forget.

"What pissed in your rocker?" Anko griped to the copy-nin, she settled back into her seat which meant that now her attention was directed towards him — like a spider with a web filled with struggling flies, no one was safe.

"I already told you, tough mission—"

They both snorted, "what? Did your little female tire you? Make you realize we're getting old?"

_Not entirely wrong._

_"_ Something like that," he offered, but the vague nature of their friend only made them more curious, and these two as a team were as good as Ibiki in extracting information when they wanted to - especially pertaining to gossip among their peers.

Anko pressed herself to his side, effectively squashing her mesh covered breasts against his arm. A rather good tactic on her part, his eyes lingered casually before he took another sip of beer.

"I'll tell you what makes me feel old —" Genma sighed pitifully, "the fact that Inoichi's girl is shaping up to be goddamn beautiful and she's underage."

"He would kill you if he heard you say that," Kakashi scolded, "in fact, I think Asuma would love to hear what you have to say—"

"Are either of them _here_?" the sly smirk that filtered onto his face made him reminisce, "that under age bullshit is ridiculous," he stated finally and waved at the waitress — "a round of shots, please!"

At least someone agreed with him, but the trail of this conversation made Kakashi uneasy, "I'm alright—"

"You're taking it," Anko reprimanded tightly, "how long has it been since we've gotten piss face drunk?"

Kakashi couldn't argue with that.

"Speaking of underage bullshit," Anko began once the clear, short stem glasses were delivered, "that Hyuga girl has a massive rack already, it's a shame she covers herself up."

"What? And she should take _your_ wardrobe tips?" Genma eyed her chest appreciatively, "I don't think her clan would be happy about a mesh body suit — some women have _class_."

That comment earned him a sharp punch to the ribs, "class my ass, as if you wouldn't ogle her if she walked down the street with that jacket unzipped."

Genma shrugged sheepishly, "I appreciate the female anatomy in general."

The three members of Konoha's jounin raised their shot glasses in unison, "to a quick death and years over thirty," Anko led, they cheered one another before knocking back the bitter substance.

Kakashi still remained rather quiet, not that he was ever the most talkative person within the group, but he normally provided more source of entertainment — "your little kunoichi is going to break hearts," Genma trailed off, "legs and ass to-"

The sharp glare from Kakashi silenced Genma, "discuss who you want, but don't talk about my female student."

"Is she still?" Anko questioned genuinely, although the words stung.

"I thought she was mentoring under the Hokage?"

"She is — I still have a team, we're just down two members," he replied, he didn't want to tread on this subject, the alcohol was beginning to make his head warm and his lips tended to become loose in regards to things he held closely.

"That's why I didn't bother with signing up, taking care of kids? No less try and teach them to _not_ die—" Genma took another heavy swig of his beer.

"Your team would be dead in less than a month," Anko shot at the senbon user who gave her a snide look in return.

"It's not so bad," Kakashi admitted, "aside from when they defect from the village."

The duo remained quiet, contrary to their character. They knew it was a sore spot for their friend, and even Anko dislodged herself from his arm, their idle memories of the Uchiha didn't compare to what Kakashi remembered of the kid, but they both glanced at each other warily — time to direct the conversation elsewhere.

"Another round!" Genma motioned towards the waitress.

By the time midnight rolled around, the trio were laughing merrily in the corner — each of their cheeks were shadowed by a blush and haze in their eyes.

Kakashi more so, and he had to wonder if Genma had been slipping him extra drinks — he hadn't requested a refill but his beer seemed to magically refill itself to the brim without him noticing.

"Kakashi-senpai!" the warm voice of Yamato idled into their jovial laughter.

Yamato arrived to the table alone, almond eyes lit with respect for the three people in the corner.

"Tenzo!" Anko reached over the table and forced him to sit down. For the snake woman, the more men in her corner the better.

Kakashi pat his ANBU partner on the back, "were you in the area?" again, he tipped his beer back.

"Well— I could hear you guys laughing from the street, but I just ran into Ino—"

"She wearing that cut off shirt?" Genma interrupted, senbon twisting pleasurably in his mouth.

Tenzo blinked slowly at Genma, unsure how to handle the question, "uhm…Yeah, she was."

Genma whistled, "I'm telling you guys, it's a damn shame."

"What is?" the wood user questioned curiously.

"The fact that the village hangs onto archaic laws!" Anko complained, although the two men looked at her, unable to remember if she had mentioned any one of importance.

"Well, the law is there for a reason, isn't there?" leave it to him to dampen their moods on the subject.

"Whatever," Genma waved him off before ordering another round, "and two here for this guy!"

"It's ok to send these kids out to kill a civilian, but sleeping with one of us — jail time," Anko chewed on an empty dango stick.

"You haven't even brought anyone up in the Konoha twelve," Genma barked unhappily.

"I'm positive Hana's little brother is something else in bed," Anko sighed with a small hiss of pleasure, "what those fangs could do." She winked at the three men sitting before her, who by now were accustomed to her outward statements.

"Well," Tenzo reasoned, "that would be like Kakashi-senpai sleeping with Sakura-chan, that's weird — isn't it?'

His heart race increased under the scrutiny and truth of his words.

If not for an extremely trained eye, they wouldn't have seen Kakashi visibly still, and the question was directed at him. He swirled his beer in his cup, faking a grimace — "I've known her since she was a genin, I don't want to think about that," Kakashi paused, keen to their piercing eyes, "aren't there dozens of men and women that we could be talking about, _not_ students I've been privy to for years?"

"See? Not everyone thinks like you two," Tenzo headed to the sour commands of Anko and Genma when his shots appeared and downed them just as quickly, "besides," he mumbled when his throat began to burn, "— it won't be long until they come of age, might as well wait."

All eyes glanced curiously at the rather stoic ANBU, " _what_?" Anko gleamed, her smile tilted like a cat toying with a trapped rat, "does our little Tenzo have a crush on a younger woman?"

Kakashi sucked air between his teeth, if he had been sober — this conversation would have left him ill of heart. Possibly cardiac arrest, but the other two were belligerent enough to forget parts of this conversation — but with Tenzo around he had to be careful with what he said — or didn't say.

"N-no! Of course not!" the wood user blushed suddenly. Genma slapped him hard on the back before swinging an arm around his shoulder.

"Welcome to the club-!"

"Don't include me in your club," Kakashi defended himself from this onslaught of conversation, although curiously he wanted to know who Tenzo could possibly be thinking of.

Tenzo remained quiet, but the guilty flick of his eyes in Kakashi's direction spoke volumes and he had to clench his jaw in an attempt to reign himself in.

Genma caught on, the alcohol unwavering in his naturally obtrusive personality, " _ah_ , so exotic colors are more of your thing, eh Tenzo?" all eyes peered at Kakashi curiously expecting a reaction, because Genma and Anko could thrive on the thought that something made the aloof Kakashi uncomfortable.

"That's your jail cell, not mine," he concluded, brushing off the admission although it made his stomach coil tightly in reserved…anger?

Genma and Anko released breaths they hadn't realized they had been holding, "how lame. Just dismissing your _student_ like that," she huffed, disappointed in his usual lax attitude.

Kakashi finished his last beer, he had to step away from them — his reserve would break, and alcohol was supposed to inhibit his thought process, not make him more confused. "Well, I'll leave you guys to your fantasies, _I_ on the other hand have the sensibility to chase after women fully developed," the words felt thick and dry in his mouth, but seamlessly he lied through practiced lips.

Anko gripped his arm, that sly-sultry grin enveloped her and she teasingly brushed her hand against the hem of his pants, "I could join you, leave the boys here to fondle each other."

Tenzo remained stoic, unsure of himself in front of his previous ANBU captain while Genma glared through his fog.

"I'm ok, I have a body waiting for me back at my apartment."

Which really meant Pakkun, but no need to explain the details.

Anko pouted, and with a woman such as herself it was better to dislodge yourself and move away so her attention could be invested elsewhere versus fighting her outright — she thrived on the innocent, and the maddening blush on Tenzo's cheeks were her bed and breakfast.

"Tenzo," she purred suddenly, slinking herself closer to him once Kakashi left the booth.

He dropped cash on the table and bid his goodbyes, thoroughly drunk. In the haze of this, he shot his hand up to dismiss himself in his typical lazy wave and left the dim light of the bar to the moon decorated in the night sky.

Somewhere between consciousness and self-inhibited, masochistic habits, he found himself on Sakura's street. Her home peered into view, and he saw the proud house that her and her parents were probably sleeping in and got upset with himself.

What was he thinking?

If she lived by herself, sure — understandable. However, the barrier of her childhood here and his years of lived experience of being alone forced him to turn on his heel.

It had been a mistake.

He would need to tell her it couldn't happen again.

But drunkenly, all of his senses simply yearned for her responsive body, and he hated the tightening of his pants. _Traitor,_ he thought vehemently at himself. It wouldn't work, even casually sleeping with each other, they would have to remain on a team, they had to remain as a glue for their broken members.

He hadn't missed the hurt shadows in her expressive eyes when she left him on the bridge earlier that day.

That night, pink invaded his dreams in a room of grey.

xox

He was avoiding her.

A week of relative silence from her sensei wasn't unusual, but she had at least expected him to be in the places she normally found him — but nothing. She searched the ANBU headquarters, the training grounds, and began to ask people where her sensei had disappeared to. After three days of coming up empty on his whereabouts, she took advantage of her apprentice position and asked Tsunade if she had assigned Kakashi on a mission during her medical ninjutsu practice.

"No, I have you and him on reserve — but you should check the cenotaph if you can't find him, he usually spends his time there."

Four mornings now she arrived at dawn to see if her sensei had planted himself at the memorial, and arrived in the evenings at his apartment timidly knocking on his door — but still nothing.

All she wanted was to explain how he wouldn't have to worry, she wouldn't push herself on him like that so they didn't have to watch over their shoulders, but even finding him to relay this information was proving to be difficult.

On her fifth morning searching for him — she found him standing idly in front of the cenotaph, hands stuffed in his pockets, his shoulders were hunched forward and she paused in her steps to witness the forlorn man that had lost friends and family.

She walked up to him tentatively, still unsure of how she was going to tell him — silence seemed to be the best option. She faced the cenotaph and inscribed the hundreds of names through her mind — until her eyes fell on _Uchiha, Obito._

The name caught her attention.

"What are you doing here, Sakura?" his voice held a weariness that made her tilt her body towards him.

"I've been looking for you," she responded, a tinge of sadness laced itself in her voice. "You've been avoiding me. I'm not an idiot, sensei."

He sighed dully, he had been talking with Obito for the past hour and found little sense of clarity since the beginning of their conversation. "Clever girl," he commented off-handedly.

"This isn't funny," she remarked, her anger sparking under the frustration that bubbled dangerously within her, "I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry."

He paused and turned to face her smaller frame, "sorry?"

"Yeah," she bit her lip, unsure of herself and what she had been preparing to say all week, "I know that I pushed you to…make love to me — but I wasn't thinking straight." Her hands clasped with one another again - force of habit that revealed her ultimate tell in how she felt.

"I don't want you to regret it, and I don't either — but I don't want you to think you have to avoid me to chase me away, I understand this isn't something you want. I shouldn't have touched you so easily the other day on the bridge, I never thought about the trouble I could get you in — and if anything happened to you because of me I don't know what I would do—" she was rambling, he knew this must have been eating at her like it had him.

He _had_ stolen her virginity.

And here she was apologizing for something he should have had the strength to stop, "Sakura, stop."

She immediately shut her mouth.

"Why are you apologizing?" he stared back at the names of lost shinobi that sacrificed themselves for the people within this village, "I should have put a stop to it, I'm the adult between us." He paused, drained and the deafening roar of his conscience ate at the pits of his chest.

"-So I apologize, I took something from you that you weren't ready for."

Pretty eyes glinted at him, "that I wasn't ready for? I knew what I was doing, and I would do it over again if I had the chance."

He stared down at the confident medical ninja in front of him, and he couldn't help but wonder _why_ of all men, she chose him. He hated to think she was a woman that liked to fix broken things, broken men — until it stole the youth from her.

"It seems between us two _you're_ the one that wasn't ready, Kaka-sensei," she reprimanded him. Sakura - his dutiful, normally cute _student_ was scolding him for _his_ life decisions while she stood there with an air of insignificance to what happened.

"It was a mistake," he had to put an end to this here. It was wrong, although the small tilt of her lips and fire behind her eyes made his body hum with her proximity. "You think Naruto or Sasuke would approve of this? If we get caught, — I got to jail and what's left of Team Seven?"

"Tsunade-shishou wouldn't put you in a jail cell," she shot back, more determined to convince her unusually stubborn sensei.

"And what about the council? They've been wanting to see me rot for years, you don't think they would gladly put one of us — if not both of us in jail for breaking the law?"

A bull met a donkey, both stubborn animals that would refuse to move aside for the other.

"She wouldn't allow that, _I_ chose to sleep with you — henge or not."

"Right," he bit back, "because I'm sure what happened in that cave would have happened if I had been my normal age."

This made her falter over a sharp response, but the bull in her refused to relent her argument. "I don't regret it," she repeated, her hands gripped her hips defensively, "I would gladly do it again, too. I _care_ about you, sensei. But unlike you, I have the maturity to handle what happened between us."

Few things could make the normally calm, reserved and jovial Hatake Kakashi angry, but his underage student claiming to be more mature about a situation where she would be seen as the innocent victim and he the defiling pervert made his anger tick.

"Maturity?" he repeated, a small scoff caught in his throat, "what girl throws herself at her teacher, then? I don't see Ino doing that to Asuma, and if you had any sense of maturity then you would take the hint that I don't want you—" the words left him carelessly, and he _should_ have stopped himself - stopped before tears sprung to striking eyes under the kiss of the sunlight that peaked over their mountains.

"At least I'm _trying_ to fix things," her voice cracked under his harsh words, "but it's always been this way. You ignored me for Naruto and Sasuke-kun, I've _always_ looked up to you, even putting that aside. What do the boys get? Your undivided time and devotion. What do I get? Tossed aside because I'm not inherently strong like Naruto or come from a recognized clan—" her words tumbled from pink lips, because her heart hurt — her second family had been utterly destroyed now.

"—And since they both left? You haven't even tried to visit me or see how I'm doing." Her shoulders began to shake — and she _hated_ crying, hated it because it seemed like it was all she could do to express herself — it made her feel weak.

"Sakura…" he reached forward to bring her close to him, to stop the pain that she had obviously harbored with her, but she recoiled away from him.

"It just hurts to know you never really cared about me," she left in a spell of tears and silent shakes, and Kakashi remained at the memorial, stoned into a customary silence.

He was alone, again.

He glanced at the name of his friend and teammate, the name stared back at him resolutely. "I'm sure you heard all of this," he sighed and ran a tired hand through his mop of hair, "…I guess I haven't really grown," he murmured more to himself than his dead friend.

"…Oh right, and I slept with my student — if you didn't catch that already."

He could envision Obito's reaction, but he couldn't picture what advice he would be given. Those answers were for him to figure out, if the silence of the cenotaph had been any indication.

xox

Sakura had been working in the hospital aimlessly the following day, thoughts lingering on her team — but primarily the face of her sensei kept diluting her focus from her tasks. It had been unusually busy that day, so Shizune had her working as a temporary aid in the emergency room.

"Sakura-!" Shizune's soft voice echoed through the hallways where Sakura was transporting blood samples from the patient outpost to the lab. She stopped mid-step to see the brown haired woman arrive with a stack of folders.

"Shizune-san?" Sakura inquired curiously.

"Sorry, but I need you to run these to Tsunade-sama, she requested these this morning about the sickness that's been running through the village — it looks like it came from a bordering village and two people passed away yesterday, so we're going to need to find out the cause before anyone else is affected," the woman spun her words so quickly Sakura nearly got lost but smiled and grasped the folders from her.

"Sure. I was just taking these samples to the lab, so I'll do that then go to the Hokage's office."

The look of pure relief washed over the respectable medic-ninja, "thank you so much. She would throw a fit if these aren't delivered on time."

Sakura placed the folders on the bottom tray of the cart, "no problem. It's the least I can do since it's so busy today," a smile lit her face, but internally she wanted to curl herself in her bed and lug herself around for the next week - her heated discussion with Kakashi left her exhausted.

And hurt, mostly hurt.

"Thank you again, after delivering those you can go ahead and take the day off, you've been here since this morning."

With a faint look to the clock to her right, Sakura saw that dusk would be settling over the village — these double shifts were killer, but the experience gained only reminded her that she still had a long way to go before she caught up to either of her teammates.

"Alright, thank you Shizune-san."

They said their goodbyes and Sakura trailed her way through the hospital to the labs. Once she delivered the samples a distinct noise on the upper floor where the emergency room was caught her attention. The noise became deafening as the thumping of feet and yelling echoed throughout the halls.

Something stilled within her chest.

Sakura ran to see what was going on, the authoritative voice of her shishou and a gang of ANBU were on stretchers being sent to the operating room. Blood stained the white floors of the hospital and she moved forward to see if she could help — but Shizune and Tsunade surged forward amongst the trained medical ninjas.

She took a step back, unsure of what to do to help.

"Sakura- leave!" Tsunade commanded when she moved by with another ANBU being carted on a stretcher.

Confusion filtered through her.

Until her eyes landed on a body that hung from another stretcher down the hall surrounded by a team of specialists.

Her heart froze, time catapulted her to a standstill at the body that remained limp in the care of doctors. Dark, onyx hair caked with blood and pale, ivory skin that she had stood by for years made her breath catch in the back of her throat.

The face that belonged the body broke through the barrier of doctors when one stepped aside. The serene face that had caused her more pain and sleepless nights remembering her futile attempt of admitting her love would bring him back - was here.

"Sasuke…kun."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Whew, sorry to do that to you guys, short- but I had to end it there for this chapter.  
> I've wanted to read a scene between Genma, Anko, and Kakashi for years but haven't found one - so that scene was a pleasure to write.  
> Thank you to everyone who did comment and left a story alert, I really appreciate it!


	3. Sunrise in the Distance

Patience must have been a trait gifted to those that could conquer the world — and those that aren't gifted with the ability to wait patiently are condemned to a world of suffering. Where it requires driven will, Sakura could claim that she was patient — being able to spend days trying to breathe life into a fish with medical ninjutsu could exasperate some people while she excelled.

However, Sakura would never claim that she was good at waiting in a hallway unable to _do_ anything to help. She felt anxious. Her heart hammered within her chest and blood seemed to rush to her head — her vision felt dizzy and she sat on a stale bench in the hallway of the emergency room, waiting.

The white walls mocked her, so she closed her eyes to attempt and hear what was happening in the room where Tsunade and Shizune were healing her teammate, and for once she wished she had the Inuzuka's clan ability for hyper-hearing. She leaned closer to the wall — maybe she could hear something as minuscule as the heart monitor — _anything_ would be better than this blanket of obscurity.

The door creaked open and Shizune exited the room, Sakura stood up abruptly and gave her other mentor a pleading look.

Shizune's doe eyes fell downcast, "he's still unstable — we're currently trying to keep his blood levels even, but it looks like he may need a blood transfusion. Tsunade-sama had me metabolizing his blood's oxygen so my chakra wore out, I'm on my way to get some soldier pills for the doctors before I go back in—"

"I'll get them for you," Sakura jutted in, she couldn't sit idly by while these people saved her teammates life.

"Thank you, Sakura." The grateful look she received from Shizune lightened the air and she glanced back in the direction of the room. "I'm sure you're curious — we don't know what happened as of now. It looks like he may have had multiple run ins with ANBU, we're still not sure."

Sakura nodded numbly, the emergency rooms were packed with miscellaneous doctors and nurses frantically running around. On a good day, these halls would be empty and most of the work would be heavy in the clinical center — but the shrill directions of doctors echoed in the hallway confirmed her worst fear.

"I'll be back," Sakura didn't want to necessarily leave, but she trusted Shizune more than a replacement medical ninja that didn't tutor under her shishou.

Sakura found herself handing soldier pills out by the dozen, the doctors worked fervently to stabilize the ANBU, she could only imagine what type of battle took place for the emergency operators to run out of chakra so quickly.

The nurses thanked her graciously for grabbing the soldier pills and once she returned to the room Sasuke was in she waited for Shizune to come out and grab them from her. No change in her demeanor must have been a good thing, but wordlessly and with a apologetic glance Shizune re-entered the operating room.

Sakura sighed, pink hair spilled over her shoulders when she sat on the stale bench and pressed her hands over her face — the frustration of waiting was going to kill her. The fluorescent lights lights and closed hallways made it impossible to tell what time it was, but by a careful guess it could have possibly been nearing midnight — the hours dragged on tediously.

Slowly, she began to contemplate what may have happened, and what Sasuke could have done that caused this. If he attacked a group of Konoha ANBU…no begging to her shishou or cries of defense on his behalf could help him, he would be sentenced to a carefully sealed prison cell. If she had the audacity and faith of Naruto, these thoughts wouldn't be an option. Sasuke was lost, yes — but making rash decisions like attacking people from her village…he wouldn't.

She yearned for Naruto's presence, it felt lonely being the only teammate worrying for Sasuke's safety, but Naruto being in the village would only be a threat — and even _if_ Tsunade granted her permission to tell him, he would only rush back here even if he was told not to for the sake of his friend.

"—You shouldn't worry so much, you may start to get wrinkles," a familiar voice cut through her anxieties, and she glanced up to see the masked face of her sensei.

She chose not to respond, instead she turned her head the other way to avoid his stare — his words had hurt yesterday, the painful sting of what he said still upset her, because he of _all_ people had always been inclined to what she felt, and he _knew_ that would push her away. He had worked in interrogation for years with Ibiki-san, manipulating his words were a refined specialty — and she had been too stupid to think otherwise.

"Sakura," he chided, his larger body took a seat next to her — his proximity made her freeze, but she remained quiet, spring eyes focused on the floor in front of her.

"So you're going to ignore me?" his soft words coddled her shaky shell of a wall, but she gave him an icy glare.

"You did a pretty good job of that last week, sensei."

Ok, he deserved that.

"Sakura—" her name rolled off his lips like velvet on her skin, but she refused to talk about this with him right now.

"Are you here to talk to me or are you here for Sasuke-kun?" she shot at him, pain was evident in her voice — Kakashi had come to expect this sort of reaction out of her. Sakura had never been the easy petal on a flower to handle — more like the singular thorn that cut his fingers when he attempted to appreciate the beauty of rose bushes.

"Shizune-san said that they're trying to get him stable right now," she took his dignified silence as her answer, "he's going to need a blood transfusion—he may have had a run in with ANBU," her voice shook at the imminent prospect of what that meant.

Kakashi's shoulder slumped, where had his teaching led Sasuke astray? The mulled over their guilty failures in regards to the Uchiha internally, "things aren't looking good for him," Kakashi pointed out — no matter what way they cut it, even if he didn't have any connection to the Earth Daimyo's death, this would imprison him indefinitely.

"I know," Sakura replied sullenly, it hurt to think about what _could_ happen, but none of the other ANBU had woken up yet, no one that could be a viable witness was conscious to explain what happened.

The doors to the operating room across the hall opened slowly, nurses began to haul out a dead body covered in a white linen cloth on a cart — Sakura watched in pained dismay as the doctors that had been working on him shook their heads dismally. Out of the five attacked, one had been pronounced dead on the site, and now another just passed.

Her innate nature to want to save people rendered her sympathy for the doctors and the recently deceased, they had been attempting to save him for hours now. "I wish Naruto was here," Sakura commented off-handedly — he would know what to say, what to believe. Without him an important piece of their dynamic was missing.

"He won't be back for another year," Kakashi responded — his eyes had watched them cart of the ANBU and the fleck of vibrant purple hair that peaked beneath the cloth he could see that it had been one of the men he had under his command years prior. This was their line of work, but the chaste pain of knowing someone only for them to pass could never lessen the blow each time.

Mito...He had really good slapstick jokes that ordinarily could sound corny, but his delivery would make Kakashi laugh.

"I know, and I'm sure Tsunade-shishou won't let us tell him either," she reflected her inner monologue, because although her anger towards her sensei still stewed vehemently in her stomach — he still offered a nice sounding board.

Kakashi leaned back against the wall, "'fraid not, Naruto would run back here and he isn't done training yet." He paused, the memory of his confrontation with Itachi only served as a reminder of how it would be better for him to remain _out_ of the village for everyone's safety.

"—Besides, Akatsuki is rumored to have caught two of the bijuus as of now. It's only a matter of time before they begin to target Naruto, if they haven't already."

Sakura bit her lip — it hurt to think about Sasuke lying in that room half alive, but if they got Naruto too…her world would tumble into darkness. "Naruto wouldn't lose to the likes of them," she stated confidently, his dream to become Hokage would come to light, it had to.

Kakashi didn't respond, because feigning ignorance to how powerful the Akatsuki was wouldn't serve anybody any good, Naruto had a long way to go before he could be confronted and think about returning alive. However, her innocence to what was happening in their world offered a soft light, he couldn't remember a day since his father's death that innocence had taken any part of his life.

"Wait, how did you know to come here?" Sakura reverted back into herself, their conversation had taken an unexpected familiar turn.

"Anko saw the commotion around the Hokage's office with news about Sasuke being sent to the hospital and decided to let me know," Kakashi responded casually.

Sakura tilted her eyebrows, "the snake woman?"

"Yes, the snake woman."

Sakura caste him a peculiar glance, but instead of questioning it her thoughts were sent back to her teammate. "I feel useless sitting here while they try and help him."

"Mm, the Hokage is known for her medical ninjutsu around the world — definitely classified as one of the most powerful kunoichi, you should know her talents better than anyone, Sakura — she won't let Sasuke die." His confidence waned, but for the sake of her — he exuded a false confidence. No amount of medical ninjutsu would help if the wounds were too fatal.

She took a shallow breath and nodded in agreement, "you're right, I'm just worried. The most critical time is usually three hours into surgery — he's been in there with Tsunade-shisou for five."

"See? He'll be fine."

She glared at him, "why aren't you worried? He _is_ one of your students."

Kakashi _wanted_ to tell her about the people lost already, about the ever growing list of names on the cenotaph and faces that haunted him when he closed his eyes. He wanted to tell her that this was their line of work, and he if revealed his worry for the Uchiha — how it would affect them as a team, how it would be another failure to those he promised to protect.

Instead, he chose to redirect her question, "because Sasuke won't die until he's fulfilled his goal. You know better than I do about that, don't you?"

Sakura let a small gasp part her lips, Sasuke had opened up to her plenty of times about his need to avenge his clan, what he had to do — _why_ he couldn't stay. His thank you, and a new barrage of emotions swelled within her — it hurt to think about.

And Kakashi could see it, see the discerning thoughts and decisions she's made flash in front of him over her expressive face — undercover missions would never be assigned to her, he could read her clear as day. Though, he supposed that's what he could appreciate about her — her sense of fluid honesty.

She opened her mouth to respond, but Tsunade emerged through the doors unannounced — tired bags were prominent on her face and her normally straight stance was much more weary than it had been before. Sakura stood while Kakashi remained seated — bad news was much easier to take sitting down, he had learned.

"You guys are still here?" she barked abruptly, one glance at the clock and the Hokage shook her head, fatigue clung to her like a sore.

Sakura waited for answers whereas Kakashi gave her a casual glance, "the Uchiha will be fine, so you guys can go home. We were successful with his blood transfusion, most of the damage was internal, split arteries, hemorrhaged lung, his kidney's were failing, but we managed to stabilize those." She sighed and rubbed her shoulders, "he's unconscious, probably won't wake up for a few days since we need his body to make a full recovery before any exertion — and I'm sure waking up in a Konoha hospital will sit well with him," she finished sarcastically.

Sakura sat back down and released a heavy breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, "thank you, shishou," she murmured absently.

Tsunade frowned, "why are you thanking me? I wouldn't let him die." Several nurses moved into the room to begin cleaning and preparing to move him to a recovery room.

The two remained silent, but Tsunade wouldn't have their quiet pining right now, "you two go home, Hokage's orders — you look worse than I do."

Sakura was in disbelief and about to protest the notion but one harsh glare from her mentor deterred any objections, "you too, Hatake — don't you have some wolves to feed?"

"They're dogs, Hokage—"

She huffed and waved them off, "both of you get out of here, and if I see you anywhere near the hospital in the next twelve hours I'll revoke both of your names on the roster, understood?"

They both, with small mutterings and objections began to leave — Sakura had been saving up to move into her own apartment, their last mission had fortified a decent amount of savings, but cutting her off the roster would be detrimental to her plans — Kakashi had the trust fund from his father after his death that could last time into early retirement - but being stagnant in the village didn't sit well with him.

So they left together.

The crisp night air invaded both of their senses in contrast to the dry atmosphere of the hospital. "Feel better?" Kakashi questioned, relief had flooded through him inwardly after Tsunade's confirmation, but now saw the imminent prospect of what happened.

Sakura murmured a small, "yeah." She didn't mean to be rude, but now what occurred the previous morning took the forefront of her worries. Sasuke was alive, tomorrow would be a new day and she had to tackle each problem as they happened.

Ideally, they wouldn't be this complicated — but their night in the cave would never serve as anything _but_ complicated.

"Sakura," he stopped in the middle of the road and the young kunoichi paused mid-step, if there had been a moment he palpably regretted his smart mouth, it had been yesterday morning. The moon highlighted her soft cheeks and muted the color of her hair into soft pink locks with wisps of silver — reminiscent of their fateful night.

"What is it, sensei?" she didn't want to have this discussion now, not with everything that just happened — but a curious, horrible tendency to hear people out forced her to stay.

Kakashi never did well with apologies, very rarely he felt inclined to actually admit his guilt — "I shouldn't have said what I did the other morning, of course I want you —"

"Then why did you say it?" pain laced with anger, she took a threatening step in his direction — hands clenched into tight fists, "you _knew_ that would hurt me, you also knew I was looking for you all week, Ino told me she saw you at your apartment when I came around knocking the other evening."

He would really need to get better blinds if the Yamanaka household could see him through his windows so easily.

"Do you understand what type of situation this is? You're not the one liable to be thrown in prison," out of reflex he kept an eye on her fists — he didn't feel like troubling the Hokage with fixing a ruptured spleen after her daunting surgery with Sasuke.

"I consented! Do I need to give you the definition of what that means?" she hissed back at him. At this hour, there was very little that could be happening in the middle of the streets of their village, if not for a arguing sensei-student duo.

"It's forbidden, there's laws in place for a reason — I should have been the adult and handled the situation better—"

"You provoked it just as much as I did!" she countered, "you pushed me on the ground and—" a small blush crept onto her cheeks remembering the promiscuous position they ended up in during their mission, "you wanted to just as much as I did."

He sighed inwardly, cursing himself for the situations he got himself in, "of course I did, Sakura. I care for you, a lot more than you think." He couldn't claim he had romantic feelings for the young chunin, because those felt foreign — but he did care about her.

"So you made love to to me because you care about me?" she raised an indignant eyebrow.

Why did she have to be perceptively smart — any other timid woman would have left the situation as it was.

"No, I had sex with you because that's what happens between two people that are mutually attracted to each other," he corrected.

"Funny, you say the word mutual but when I bring up my _mutual_ consent it suddenly doesn't matter. I wouldn't let them put you in a jail cell, and the council would be stupid to think of putting their best jounin behind bars. Especially with everything that's happening right now."

Why did she have to make such valid points? He wanted to fight her logic, find a flaw in the grand scheme of why they had slept together and why they shouldn't proceed as anything other than teammates and put the event behind them.

"You're right," he lamented finally, as clever of a man he was — he couldn't deny what she was saying, "I came here to apologize for what I said the other morning. I don't want to fight with you, Sakura."

Her spitfire attitude waned, she mulled over what he said — but what she had emotionally brought up the morning prior still held firm, "you say you care about me, but your actions prove otherwise."

He had dreaded this topic of conversation, if only for the fact that he had horrendously failed her as a teacher and comrade, "you know Sasuke got the curse mark from Orochimaru, with the chunin exams coming so close — he needed a way to protect himself."

"Don't lie to me," she interrupted shakily, "even before the exams your entire focus had been Naruto _and_ Sasuke. Don't use that as an excuse."

"Sakura," he sighed evenly, a tired hand ran through his hair. "Do you know why you got put onto Team Seven?" he questioned her — he motioned to the hill by a stream a hundred yards away, they would need to discuss a few things and standing in the middle of the street didn't serve as an appropriate place to speak with her.

She tossed the question around in her head with little resistance to his suggestion on their small walk to the grassy hillside — the grass was dewy in the late hours of the night, crickets chirped happily along the stream and every so often the sound of a fish slapping it's tail against the water helped calm the enraged kunoichi.

"I'm not sure," she replied when they sat down beside each other, "because I have good chakra control?"

"That," he procured himself in the grass, the feel of the wet grass on his fingertips brought a small sense of peace, "and your marks in class were always higher than the other kids in your year. And your affinity for genjutsu surpassed that of Sasuke — perhaps not in terms of creating a genjutsu since he has the sharingan, but you were leagues above Naruto."

Sakura kicked a rock sitting idly by her foot into the stream, "right. Still doesn't answer my question."

The copy ninja had never been good at comforting others, and this conversation was a testament to that fact, "I failed you as a teacher — I should have taken more time in training you individually, and I planned on it, but between Sasuke leaving the village and Orochimaru attacking the village — I didn't put much thought or effort into it."

Sakura scoffed, "and after? You could have easily thought to help me after Naruto left as well, but you went missing!" she didn't mean to sound entitled, but the remaining person of her team that gave her a reminiscent sense of a bond had decided to take extended missions.

"Let's just say I make it a habit of thinking the correct choice isn't necessarily the correct one."

"This isn't funny," she cautioned, her patience was running thin — all she wanted was a straight answer.

"Because I failed in keeping our team together," he stated bluntly, two teams he had been in charge of, both ended up broken under his watch. "Sasuke would have left no matter who his sensei was, but it stings more when you take the time to serve as someone that could possibly save him — and don't."

Sakura peered at him curiously, the words left him in clipped tones — obviously Sasuke's defection had affected them both, she dragged her knees to her chest and rested her cheek on top of her knees. "…I think you had a big impact on him, sensei." Truthfully, she always felt inclined to think that Sasuke cared more about his team than he led on.

"Big enough so he could use the raikiri and leave," he admonished.

"I'm just glad he's back for now, maybe we'll get some answers from him when he wakes up," her voice sounded hopeful, but Kakashi could already take a guess and say that Sasuke hadn't planned on returning by his own accord.

He offered a reserved nod in agreement, "we'll see."

Sakura stiffened in realization, "you know I'm sill mad at you, right?"

He hummed in mild surprise, "really? I couldn't tell by you sitting so close to me."

She sat up once again and aimed to punch his arm, but his hand expertly caught her wrist. "I have a proposition to earn your forgiveness," Kakashi offered — his fingers on her skin made her eyes widen fractionally.

She was about to protest when he rubbed his thumb gently over the vein on her wrist, "how about I finally take the time to train you? I have a few ideas that I think you'll benefit from."

Pink dusted her cheeks, small tingles erupted from the contact of their skin — but she was still unsure if he was teasing her or being honest, "you think that offering to train me will make me forgive you?" A spark of a bitter grudge dragged through her, she brought her hand back to her lap in rebellion to the witty, infuriating man beside her.

Kakashi chuckled softly and dropped his hand beside him, "well I thought it _may_ work, but regardless I am your superior and I haven't had mandatory team seven training in a long time — might as well start now."

Sakura gaped at him.

"You can't use that against me! Do you know how busy I am between training with Tsunade-shishou and shifts at the hospital?"

"—So you're turning down the chance to learn several new jutsu?" he began to stand with a small grunt of pain — his limbs were really beginning to wear on him.

Sakura debated over the option for a few seconds before relenting, "fine old man — but they better be worth it." She sprung up to her feet happily with a cat like stretch, "do you need me to walk you home, too?" she teased.

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye at her, "wait until you get to my age, your bones don't work like they used to — and no," he grunted.

"Right," she agreed with a dreadful smirk, "maybe if you took care of yourself it wouldn't be an issue at your age. You sure about that walk?" she leaned forward, the coy smile on her lips added to the picturesque view she offered him, lithe legs glimmered in the moonlight under the panels of her skirt.

Kakashi waved her off, "I'll take my death with dignity, thank you."

"Whatever you say," she paused, hesitant if they should be having such a casual conversation when Sasuke still remained immobile in a hospital bed.

_Day by day_ , Sakura reminded herself dolefully.

She wrapped her arms around him and bid her goodbyes.

"Goodnight, Kaka-sensei."

"Goodnight, Sakura."

xox

Usually one to follow orders, Sakura couldn't deny that breaking the rules left her completely unsettled. However, when she woke up the following morning at dawn — an unexplainable urge to head to the hospital mechanically made her shower and put her clothes on, her body moved on its own until she found herself at the front doors of the hospital.

Tsunade would be lurking the hallways of the hospital to check on the other ANBU members until they woke up, but if she could just catch a _glimpse_ of Sasuke — she would be able to sleep. Her conversation with Kakashi the night before had settled her nerves, and although she still didn't feel satisfied by their conversation - he was all she had.

Her worry rested with the boy that had left her on the bench, and the last image she had of him was him strewn on a hospital cart on a stretcher. She tossed and turned last night, no matter the amount of exhaustion she felt — her body yearned for sleep after being awake nearly a whole day, but her mind wouldn't permit her rest.

So, here she was.

She took the stairs and unused corridors of the hospital where mostly lab technicians and security resided, the vibrant chunin couldn't feel her mentor's chakra anywhere nearby once she arrived at the recovery room, but before she could knock on the door her knuckles stopped.

This would be their first meeting since he had left.

Subconsciously she twisted the ends of her hair to calm her nerves and took a steadying breath — he would still be asleep. No voices could be heard from inside, and it took her a moment to realize that a seal had been placed on the door — _of course_.

With one more shallow breath she entered the room slowly, the seal must have been strong for the Hokage to resist the urge to place ANBU stationed outside his door. She opened the door slowly until she felt the presence of two masked ANBU within the room.

There they were.

Deciding to ignore them — they would have stopped her by now if Tsunade had ordered for no visitors.

She moved forward until she pulled back the curtain to his bed, the immense amount of chakra that leaked into the room proved how strong he must have gotten — it felt thick and…disturbed.

Her breath hitched in her throat.

He had grown.

_A lot._

He was taller than her, and the familiar face of her teammate's made her bite her lip. A defined jawline framed his face that had widened — a more mature version of the Sasuke she knew slept peacefully on the bed. This face couldn't belong to anyone but the person she had dedicated the first portion of her life to, she took a cautious step forward.

The same face that held such an array of hurt emotions remained eternally serene in his slumber, his light skin contrasted with dark hair — memories invaded her, memories of them together, of the curse mark in the forest of death, and their goodbye.

_"_ _Sakura…Thank you."_

Her heart began to beat erratically at the sudden storm of memories with the boy before her began to invade her senses. Her eyes traced over the sharp edges of his face, a delicate frown took hold of her lips — she didn't want to see those she cared about in the hospital. His abnormally handsome face had always brought a sense of peace in her life when things were going well with their team, nights spent showered under the billions of stars with Naruto yelling obscenities at Sasuke and she couldn't help but feel utterly useless that it had all been torn apart because she couldn't keep him here — couldn't save him.

Her sentiments fell in line with her sensei, she felt powerless in the presence of the darkness that consumed Sasuke. It hurt to know she couldn't prevent their precious memories and time spent together.

_No._

She shouldn't be here.

He was ok, her mind could stop churning with worry.

Mind at ease, for one last moment she watched the steady rise and fall of his chest and rhythmic sound of the heart monitor before she decided to leave. She didn't _want_ to leave yet, but if Tsunade caught her here she could only imagine her mentor keeping to her threat. She left the hospital as quickly as she came.

xox

Sakura panted heavily under the scrutiny of her sensei, for hours now he had been teaching her a genjutsu that exercised a generous amount of chakra. Three days after Sasuke's arrival — Tsunade still prohibited their admission to the hospital and kept him unconscious so his body could recover. Sakura forced herself to remain at home and keep herself busy, but it was becoming a tiring task re-alphabetizing her book collection for the third time.

Lack of working at the hospital and training with Tsunade left her frantically restless.

At the crack of dawn on the third morning she heard a knock on her bedroom window — she peered from beneath her blankets to witness her psychotic teacher perched on a tree branch that sat a foot away from her window. He gave his iconic, "yo," and two finger salute — deafly signaling that he wanted her attention.

She wanted to kill him that morning.

She stomped to her window a horrid mess and looking entirely unshinobi-like before opening her window carelessly, "what do you want?" she snapped, covering herself with a shawl nearby from the onslaught of cold air into her room.

"I just wanted to let you know that we have mandatory training right now."

Sakura seethed, "what?!"

"I'll wait for you downstairs, dress in battle gear."

Then he left with a familiar _pop!_

She really, really wanted to kill him.

The sun hung brightly above them by now, and Sakura was positive she would be gaining some color to her skin from being exposed for so many hours. "How is this beneficial, sensei?" she found herself questioning once again. Sure — a genjutsu proved worthy when you mastered the trade like Kurenai-san, but her genjutsu skills were sorely lacking given her dedication to medical ninjutsu.

"Think of it like a fractured picture on TV or a disc skipping."

"….Right, what?" she repeated again, blinking slowly to process his insane explanation.

"Say you're in battle and your opponent has a keen eye since you apply a decent amount of taijutsu to your fighting. If you use this before or during your fight, you become that fractured picture or skipping disc."

"So it confuses their senses?" she attempted to guess.

"No, think of it more like a time-delay. Only someone highly skilled in genjutsu would be able to notice — the only downside is you wouldn't be able to rely on this — your window of opportunity will need to be utilized since they'll be able to accurately time your movements, so make sure you make contact with your opponent in that window."

She nodded slowly, understanding the overall benefits of a genjutsu — but she couldn't get the one-handed seals down, she couldn't imagine how people did this so accurately during battle. "Do you think you could show me?"

Kakashi nodded, he hadn't wanted to show her yet — progress through idealized practice was best when mastered without example, but she was quickly running out of chakra. He made the hand seals with his right hand and began to run towards his pupil — Sakura blinked a few times, he flickered in and out of her vision — she turned once where he was only to see him flash again to her left.

"S-sensei?"

A cold kunaii to the back of her neck proved the worth of this jutsu.

"Kai!" she released the genjutsu and widened her eyes in relative shock.

"Alright, so I was wrong for thinking this may have been a useless jutsu to add to my small reservoir," she admitted.

Kakashi sighed in displeasure, "anyone with a small reservoir should be happy to add _any_ type of jutsu."

With a renewed sense of vigor, she completed the hand seals and focused her chakra — just enough to supply the jutsu. Her eyes opened and she began to pace around Kakashi who would catch her in and out of his vision, "Sakura—I think you've got it."

A playful smirk slid onto her face, she moved around the male once, twice who continuously moved his head a second after she would vanish from view — until she leaned forward and kissed his cheek thankfully.

He reigned in his immediate shock, she vanished from view once more and dispelled the jutsu and began to laugh, "so how did I do?"

"…You did ok," he scolded, "you managed ghost images of yourself when it should be more of a flicker, but you none the less understand it — just going to take more practice for you to master it."

Sakura clucked her tongue, "and I'm assuming it only took you a couple of minutes to get it, right?" she growled in fermented jealousy for those that excelled beyond belief.

"Actually, yes," the wide grin beneath the mask only infuriated her more.

"That's not fair, you have the sharingan that tactlessly copies other jutsus that other people work half of their lives to create," she glared at him with a small huff.

Kakshi shrugged his shoulders, "this world isn't fair, why do I have to feel guilty about that?"

Sakura was about to respond when Genma ran towards the duo from the far end of the training field. He waved his arms maniacally to get their attention, the two peered at each other curious — eyes questioning the other if they had business to take care of, but Genma's voice began to breech the calm of the grassy lawns.

"Sasuke woke up!" he yelled towards them, "the Hokage has requested you two come to the hospital immediately!"

Both of their chests clenched at the news, with an unspoken agreement they chased after Genma to the hospital.

xox

They arrived at his door in record time to a barrage of ANBU stationed at the front door. Kakashi nodded to them, having memorized the masks of others who all bowed their heads in mutual respect for the legendary sharingan user.

Sakura remembered her arrival the other night when she had been prohibited and gnawed on the inside of her cheek nervously. _He's awake._ It changed everything when he would be up and able to speak with them — what would he say? She couldn't naively hope that he would be the same person, because he had rapidly changed from the Sasuke she knew while he had been here.

The ANBU permitted them entrance into the room and they both entered — Sakura a bundle of unkept nerves while Kakashi remained indifferently aloof, she could only hope that one day she would be able to have the calm facade he revealed to the world. They entered to the see the Hokage sitting at the edge of his bed with Ibiki to her left — so they were already questioning him.

All eyes turned to the pink and grey duo — onyx met the familiar faces of his teammates and the series of colors clashed in a wave of paint onto an unspoken canvas. Sakura temporarily froze — asleep he had looked serene, almost whimsical when he wasn't plagued with the memories of his childhood, but not this man in the hospital bed that stared at them with hard eyes.

"Sakura...Kakashi," he whispered groggily, but even by the hoarseness in his voice she could hear how much his voice had deepened.

He looked frail after the tremulous surgery he went through, but it didn't pass Sakura that he exuded a power unknown to them.

"You two, come here," Tsunade motioned, they walked closer and stood idly by his bedside. He was held down by seal chains to the bed and chakra inhibitors — Sakura glanced around the room at the sheer amount of precautions they took — it didn't feel right.

"—We've been questioning him for the past few hours, it looks like the run in with the ANBU wasn't fought between them, but another member of the Akatsuki."

"And Sasuke decided to help the Leaf?" Kakashi inquired, glancing between Ibiki and Tsunade for answers.

"Not by choice," Sasuke said blearily, he shifted in his bed uncomfortably. "I was in Fire country and the scouting ANBU stopped me halfway to sound, the masked Akatsuki member intercepted and attacked us."

Sakura exhaled an even breathe, this worry had plagued her but her eyes wondered to her sensei who didn't seem convinced in his own student — why wouldn't he believe him?

"Masked Akatsuki?" Sakura repeated, kept in the dark from such a dangerous group was beginning to annoy her — she felt powerless when she didn't know anything.

"Looks like Sasuke and the ANBU fought the masked Akatsuki member, two of the others woke up earlier this morning and were able to confirm this, so he may be telling the truth," Tsunade gave the Uchiha a once over skeptically — decisions that the Hokage had to make were difficult and she only ever felt confident in these decisions with half a bottle of sake warming her stomach.

This would require a clear head.

Sakura and Kakashi remained silent.

"He will be kept in this hospital for the remainder of his recovery until we can take him into interrogation. I wanted you guys here so you can understand the circumstances he's facing," Tsunade shot Sakura a hard glare, "although the run in with the ANBU looks to clear him of that — we can't dismiss his desertion and involvement with Orochimaru. Until his interrogation is complete and the council comes to a decision — he _will_ be in prison."

Sakura almost said something in earnest protest, but she stopped herself and nodded her head dully — she wanted to fight against it, but there was nothing she could do to try and vouch for him — if only Naruto were here, there wouldn't be a hesitation to defend his friend.

"And if he doesn't want to stay?" Kakashi countered, understanding the inner workings of his student's mind.

"I don't think you can speak for me," Sasuke admonished. His eyes turned to the window, he obviously didn't want to be talked to right now but the Hokage ignored the remark to Kakashi.

"You don't have the right to have an opinion here, Uchiha—" Tsunade barked, annoyed with the man on the bed. Ibiki had kept relatively silent throughout the conversation and shifted his weight to defend the Hokage if Sasuke decided to do something — the ANBU stationed in the corner rustled evenly.

Sakura could feel the heavy atmosphere begin to suffocate the people in the room and decided to break the tension, "are you ok, Sasuke-kun?" she offered him a concerned glance, he glanced at her and then his sensei and gave a small grunt in response.

"You two should leave, we still have to finish preliminary questions." The suggestion was an order, and the duo decided it would be better to listen to her than direct her anger towards them instead.

They left each other at the entrance of the hospital, each reserved to their own thoughts on their walks home.

xox

Small bag of tomato nigiri in hand, Sakura walked tentatively that night once more to the hospital to drop off the food to her teammate, nervousness couldn't accurately describe what she was feeling without the comfort of her mentor and Kakashi's presence beside her — she just wanted to speak with him individually. In a village where half of the people saw him as a traitor — having at least _one_ person that cared wouldn't hurt.

She just needed to speak with him by herself.

She needed answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for taking the time to read this story and leave feedback, it means a lot!  
> This chapter felt a bit slower but I really wanted to establish some common ground between our favorite pair. 
> 
> If you enjoy this story don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think!


	4. When the World Burns

Without a doubt, the one thing that could satisfy any nervousness that unsettled Kakashi would be a couple hours alone in a peaceful, outdoor area where he could read Icha Icha. No students, no colleagues, no Hokage, no missions — just his book that curved nicely to his hands from being read and re-read dozens of times. Although he itched for new material, patience would be necessary since Jiraiya would be releasing a new book in another month. He sat perched high in a branch in the Nara forest — Shikaku wouldn't mind, on more than one occasion he had been found hanging on a branch with his book in hand or taking a small nap.

Kakashi settled against the base of the tree and began to read happily —

 _"_ _And you think you can stop me, Nagato?" her heavy response quieted the man that had come here to stop her._

_He took a step forward, quietly as to not disturb her — if they could just go back to how they were. "I'll do anything to save you from yourself, you're walking down a dangerous path."_

_She dropped her head in defeat, rough hands gripped her shoulders and pulled her to him until their bodies were pressed together — they held their breaths, they knew what was coming next — he began to pull her straps off her shoulders—_

"Kakashi-sensei?" the unwanted and sadly familiar voice of Shikamaru broke into what could possibly be the best scene in the book, in accordance to mentioned Kakashi.

He peered over the brim of his book with a lazy eye, "great day for reading, isn't it?" Kakashi said, unafraid to keep the agitation from creeping into his voice, hoping that the shadow user would take the hint and leave.

Shikamaru pursed his lips, "what are you doing around here?"

Obviously subtle conversation went over the Nara's head — or he simply chose to ignore it. "I could ask you the same thing," sarcasm practically dripped off the branch with him.

"I live here and I wanted to take a walk and feed some of the deer," Shikamaru drawled lazily, he tilted his head back to glance at the clouds that rolled by, Kakashi always had to wonder if this kid would live a long, simple life for how much he admired the life of clouds.

"And I'm reading on this beautiful day," he moved to push the book back to his face — the faint scent of old paper pacified him. Hopefully Shikamaru could take a hint, it didn't sit well with him to feign conversation if he didn't have to .

Shikamaru stuffed his hands in his pockets with a tired sigh, "alright, well Sakura was looking for you in town a few hours ago — I see now why she wouldn't be able to find you."

Kakashi had to stop himself from cursing any outstanding chunins that threatened the small blocks of tranquility that he looked forward to each day. "Thanks, Shikamaru — you're a _real_ help."

The black haired male stared at him blandly, "do you think something weird is going on in the village?"

Attention hooked, because for the self-proclaimed lazy (yet rather genius) individual to notice something amiss — it would be foolish to not pay attention. Kakashi laid his book on his lap, "there's always something weird going on."

Shikamaru obviously didn't appreciate the teacher that talked in circles and glanced around the silent woods, as if searching for something he couldn't see — Kakashi couldn't feel any chakra signatures nearby, and nothing stood prominent in the familiar woods that circled the Nara compound.

"I guess I just have a weird feeling," Shikamaru grumbled.

Kakashi could understand the feeling that he held, years of service to this village and killing on their behalf had left him with a strange sense that he could never _fully_ relax in his own home. "Have you seen anything?" he asked the chunin.

Shikamaru shook his head, "tch. I think I've just been training too much." Quite leisurely, he tilted his head back once more to admire the clouds — envy didn't begin to explain the expression that crossed the Nara's face.

"Not a bad thing," Kakashi countered, vaguely he wondered why Sakura would be searching for him — they didn't have any training today and after their discussion he had assumed they were on good terms — the foreboding feeling of attachment began to caution him.

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, clearly giving up on any suspicions he held and began to walk away, "bye Kakashi-sensei. If you see anything weird please let my father know," Shikamaru bowed his head before leaving the interrupted jounin.

As if he _wouldn't_ say anything. Had his dignity really fallen so low that common chunin were speaking to him like that? He could easily recall the days where he would step into the room and a collective gasp would resonate in the room in reaction to his presence. He wasn't afraid to blame the upbringing of children on his fellow shinobi — did they understand respect? Apparently not.

He watched the retreating back that dignified the Nara clan and sat back on his branch. Truthfully, he had woken up that morning with an uneasy stomach which usually meant that the events for the day would come unexpected or his mission would slowly break down. The same feeling had overwhelmed him the morning he had woken up for his mission with Sakura — although _that_ outcome had been more pleasurable than he had expected.

Kakashi brought the book back to his face, much more uneasy after his minimal talk with Shikamaru than before.

_The straps fell off her shoulders to reveal soft, supple skin…_

xox

 

The night before, Sakura had been restless in bed — thoughts plagued her until she shifted herself in her sheets and glanced out the window. The familiar crescent moon served as a reminder of the boy that had haunted her thoughts for years. Before _anyone_ — she had seen his face and fallen deep into a pit she couldn't climb out of. Like a one sided symbiotic relationship between two mammals she had hoped that he would recognize her, for years — but those years had passed and her pit had only grown while she became smaller. In the shadow of her love and Naruto, it wasn't until Sasuke left that the pit had gradually become smaller until she could _finally_ stand on flat ground once more.

The same words taunted her, became riddles that she couldn't quite decipher. Her emotions had changed, _she_ had changed — but the same words accosted her and made her motionless in the presence of them. Sakura flipped the blankets off of her — and in a daze of fixed fascination she found herself with tomato nigiri in hand to find the answers she had been searching for.

Two ANBU standing guard glanced in her direction when she arrived at his door in the hospital, she bowed her head and took a steadying breath before stepping in — how many times would it take for her to see him until this nervousness escaped her? He hadn't been involved with attacking the ANBU, she could safely assume he hadn't been involved with the Earth Daimyo's assassination, hope still laced itself in her gut for bringing him back to them completely.

She entered the room quietly.

He was sleeping again.

Half of her her wanted to high-tail it out of the suffocating room — but he looked so _peaceful_ when he slept. It pained her to think this peace came when he left reality, vivid images of her confession flashed before her. The tears that had begged for him to stay, her pleas to try and convince him that he could be happy with her — she had been telling the truth, she would have done anything to make him happy.

Time had made her realize this had been a halfway selfish explanation — but how could _his_ happiness qualify her as selfish?

She took a seat by his bed — apparently disgruntled she began to unpack the food, with him asleep this defeated the purpose of her visit. He couldn't quite answer the questions she had when he slept. Tentatively, she leaned forward and placed the bento on his nightstand. The seals and chains on hid body made her frown — he wasn't a criminal. Not to her, not to Naruto, and not to Kakashi-sensei. She understood the gravity of desertion, but her research into his family made her angry — they had been murdered by a monstrous member — his brother, and they couldn't overlook his vengeance against that man?

It didn't make sense to her.

She shifted herself closer to him and peered once more out the window, sad eyes traced over the room until they lingered on his larger form. Slowly, her hand reached out to brush a few strands of hair out of his face.

It happened quickly —

His hand shot out to reach for her throat, a sudden growl erupted from his lips that mimicked a gurgle and the sharingan spun into her vision. This time, instead of shots of ecstasy that left her legs quivering — her body went immobile, she couldn't feel her limbs and the sudden sense of suffocating made her gasp for breath. His hand reached around her delicate throat, strong fingers dug into the hollows of her skin, effectively cutting off her supply of oxygen. She began to flail in his hand — his eyes remained passive as she began to struggle. Her nails dug into his skin leaving bloody half moons and she tried to move her limbs but they remained slack under the intrusion of his genjutsu.

The world began to dim.

"S-sasuke-" she couldn't breathe. The immediate feeling of her body going slack pumped adrenaline into her muscles, her heart began to beat erratically in an attempt to force her to move — he was going to kill her. Sea foam eyes pleaded for him to stop, for him to recognize it was her — not an enemy that had woken him up.

She pushed chakra to her feet, and with a ragged breath she kicked her foot into his bed, although it nearly exhausted her fighting the sharingan. The bed launched forward into the wall that forced him to release his grip on her throat. Sakura fell to the ground in a heap of wheezing, exasperating breaths. Fuzzy black spots danced across her vision and her body felt numb, she cradled her neck in her free hand, pink hair hid her face from his eyes — had he really tried to kill her?

Shocked tears had leaked onto her cheeks treacherously, her lungs hurt from lack of oxygen and she felt dizzy — slowly she peered up at him. He sat resolute in his bed, staring at his hand that had left fresh bruises on her pale skin. He looked lost, but the red of his sharingan reminded her of _who_ he was — of who she remembered, but this man that sat before her wasn't the same as before.

"Sakura…." his voice trailed off hoarsely. The ANBU must have been switching shifts or decided to leave her alone if they hadn't heard the commotion...Unless Sasuke had prepared the room beforehand?

She remained on all fours on the cold linoleum floor. Could he have really killed her? Years of training did nothing if she couldn't manage to put up a fight against him, angry tears at herself brimmed on her eyes. Sakura looked at the male that had brought so many nights of pain to her life, brows furrowed in furious pain — he stayed silent in the face of what happened.

Sakura forced herself up shakily — she could call for the ANBU, and half of her wanted to — but the pained expression on his face made her rigid. "I didn't know it was you," he explained simply, surveying the damage he had caused. His eyes lingered gingerly on her neck, but his stoic nature only made her angrier.

"You thought I was attacking you?" she croaked out, her throat scratched against the use of her vocal cords.

"Hn," he responded. His eyes turned downward, reflecting the usual onyx she had become accustomed to over the years. He clenched his fist and brought it down to his side, he caste her a soft glance, her breath hitched — she could never truly see the truth in his words when he spoke to her now.

A soft glow began to light up the moonlight lit room, the green of her hands offered a soft light and began to caress the fiery pain on her neck into a dull throb until it faded into a slight inconvenience. She swallowed once, twice until she had fixed herself enough to talk to him. Wearily, she glanced at the door and saw the ANBU with their backs to them outside of the window, "why couldn't they hear anything?"

"I set up a genjutsu each night," he replied evenly.

She shot him a concerned glance, still gripping her neck as if the pain still resided there.

"You're a medic now," he pointed out. The news didn't seem to come as a surprise to him, but a simple fact. He had a way of diminishing her hard work into simple statements, she nodded her head and focused her eyes on the ground. She should go before they caught onto something —- it had been a mistake to try and talk to him, she should have known better than to expect a civil discussion.

Her lack of response nestled a quiet silence in the room. She felt like a foreigner in the hospital that she had spent most of her days in, "I train under the Hokage now," her words found her before she found them.

"Are you ok?" the words filled the room, filled her head until she dropped her hand from her neck. Concern had never been a gratuitous trait from the Uchiha, and after blatantly trying to kill her he questioned her welfare. The enigma that centered itself as Sasuke Uchiha would never cease to amaze her.

"I am now," Sakura didn't move forward towards him. Instead, she motioned towards the bento on his nightstand by his skewed bed, "I brought you some tomato nigiri, I remember you liked…"

"You shouldn't be here," he declared firmly.

The words fell from his lips.

Her heart began to clench painfully, "I came here to talk—"

" _Leave_ , Sakura."

He always kept her at arm's length, always forced her away from him when she tried to _help_ him. Why couldn't he see that? Why couldn't he accept her help? What made him so against anyone trying to help him?

"No," she refused, not this time. Too many times the people she loved most forced her away and she couldn't do anything but cry and try and convince them otherwise, she wanted answers. "And I should be angry with you for what you just did!"

He gave her that expressionless look, that look that gave her _nothing_.

"Why can't you talk to me? I'm only trying to _help_ you — you heard what Tsunade-shishou said."

"I have nothing to talk to you about—"

"And what? You'll go to prison with no one on your side? No one that will try and defend you?"

"I don't need defending, I already told you what my path in this life is."

"What?" she scoffed, "you mean your plans of revenge—"

"I killed him."

She went silent.

The world tilted between them.

Moments passed that they had shared, infamous moments that burned themselves into their memories. Memories that she wished she could forget, because she would have been better forgetting them for her own welfare than trying to decipher why he had shared what he felt with her. Her mind couldn't wrap around the words, around the fact that he had accomplished what he had premised so many years ago when they were children. He shadowed his eyes from her, his bangs hung over his face — but she could see the confusion within him.

"Y-you killed him?" the path that he had chose, his decision to go with Orochimaru — it had worked.

"Yes."

She couldn't read him, couldn't understand the emotions that invaded the reaming Uchiha. She wanted to desperately try and help him. Their bell test with Kakashi-sensei had imprinted itself on her when he first revealed his identity as an avenger for his family. She wouldn't, no _couldn't_ envision the last moments he shared with his brother. The blood that trailed itself down his face until his brother had fallen at his feet.

"T-then you'll be here for good?" she questioned hopefully. Had there been a plan for him after? Naively she thought of Naruto returning and their team _finally_ being whole. Fallen pieces of her would return, it nearly brought unfounded happiness to her heart.

"No, that's why you need to leave."

Her heart burst.

Why couldn't he accept the people that loved him here?

"But why? Why do you do this?" her voice began to quiver.

"I don't belong to Konoha." She felt stupid to admit it now, but the faded sense of the genjutsu within the room prevented the ANBU from hearing them — but this fact didn't stop her hopes falling at her feet.

"You have people who care for you _here!_ "

"I have new plans, Sakura."

He wasn't listening to her, why didn't _anyone_ ever listen to her?

"What plans?" she questioned cautiously.

He looked out the window, a reminiscent glance at the red Hokage tower.

Her eyes narrowed, the same visions of Kakashi and Sasuke infiltrated her. Why did she care for those that couldn't accept her? Why did she find the holes in their lives deemed fixable? "And what plans are those? If you do anything to Konoha I'll tell the Hokage myself — I'll never forgive you."

She had never been on the receiving end of a look that reaped hatred from those she loved. From enemy shinobi, yes - they would taunt her and looked at her as an easy kill — but never before had she seen the vehement eyes that centered her in Sasuke's vision.

" _Leave,_ Sakura."

Whether it be raw stubbornness or frustration with Sasuke, she walked forward and glared at him, "I'll stop you myself. I won't let you do anything stupid — everything you've worked for, you'll only hurt Naruto and everyone that cares about you."

A ragged, snide smirk rested on his face — it looked…devilish, "I'll kill you myself."

She could see the pain within him, see the hatred that had gone unhinged while he had been away. Before, he had concealed it and allowed himself moments of happiness with them. Now…now a new, raw hatred for the world revealed itself. The silent, brooding and haunted man before her saw anew — he was unrecognizable.

"You wouldn't do anything to Konoha…to me, to Naruto…" the room began to sway. She was going to be sick.

He didn't say anything. He stared at her, and in this moment she could feel the surmountable _power_ that invaded the room. He had worked hazardously, sacrificing himself and his own health to kill his brother…but she couldn't envision why he still held the curse of hatred within him. Tears escaped her, when would she be strong enough to help him? What stared back at her wasn't her teammate, but someone that had been consumed by his past.

"Sasuke-kun…?" she nearly pleaded, begging for him to tell her otherwise. To fault her line of thinking, but an unspoken agreement between them when they had been young genin had always lifted the veil in the truth of how he felt.

"You shouldn't be here. I _will_ leave."

No amount of begging could repair the broken bridge between them. Nothing she could do would help them, he had revealed enough to her. Anymore and she would be on the crux of having to tell Tsunade or suffer alone with his decision to leave once again.

Her heart hurt, the familiar pain would always be there to remind her of him. Remind her that she couldn't fix their team, she turned to leave — she took a step toward the door until she stopped mid-step and faced him once more. He looked back at her, handsome face reflecting the shy light of the moon.

"Why did you thank me that night?" she whispered.

The phrase would never leave her if she didn't understand now.

Long, stretched out seconds hung between them before he decided to answer.

"Because you reminded me of the past."

xox

 

The unsettled and untimely feeling had been fixed in his stomach after a few hours lounging in the trees after his small discussion with Shikamaru. A shower would suffice - then he would take a quick trip to the ANBU head quarters and see for himself if anyone else had strange premonitions for that day. What he didn't expect was the light, sensitive chakra signature of his student in his apartment. The daunting feeling could be equated to his student sitting on his couch fast asleep.

First, he wanted to understand how she got in — and why she let herself in.

The cold air within his room notified him that he had forgotten to close his bedroom window.

So she had been searching for him.

His footsteps must have stirred her awake because she shifted on his couch and pulled her arm to cover her face — her vest rode up to reveal the soft plane of her stomach. Kakashi watched with a new keen interest but forced himself to look away — he knew his student well enough to know that whatever reason she purposely broke into his apartment for to speak with him would be important.

"Sakura," Kakashi urged, slightly disappointed that she could be such a heavy sleeper. Anyone could sneak up on her and slice her throat if they felt inclined to do so, and he felt personally responsible if anything were to happen to her.

She groaned softly in response, her eyes began to flutter open — orbs that held such a heavy amount of emotion in them peered at him curiously as if she had forgot she fell asleep in _his_ apartment. Much like the feline she represented, she began to stretch and arch her back off the couch, rubbing tired eyes with the back of her fist and extending her limbs — he wanted to tease her, but slowly she came to her senses.

"I'm sorry Kakashi-sensei," she mewled softly — she sat up in time for him to sit across from her on his recliner. "I had been looking for you all morning…" guilty didn't begin to accurately describe the look on her face.

Kakashi waved off her apology, "it's alright. Shikamaru told me you had been looking for me…although I don't quite remember leaving my window open when I left this morning."

Her face noticeably reddened, "sorry," her hands folded into her lap and she kept her eyes downcast, he had to wonder if something had happened. Actually, he _knew_ something had transpired that reverted her into her self-conscious nature.

"What happened?" he may as well force it out of her now.

Sakura stiffened at the perceptive question, internally dreading explaining the events at the hospital — or if she actually wanted to. She had broken into her teacher's apartment so she could speak with someone who understood her, could offer her a source of comfort, but she hadn't decided if she was going to tell him about her conversation with Sasuke — or him nearly killing her.

Before she had come to a decision, exhaustion had taken over and she hardly remembered falling asleep on the couch.

"Sakura," the deep voice forced her to look at him, _really_ look at him. Beneath his mask laid another layer to this man, a face that had hummed in appreciation of her body, genuinely smiled at her, and always laid a blanket of concern for her welfare. That night…she had forgotten. It had been a sick, sweet pleasure. Thanks to him, her life didn't feel like a never ending race where she could only watch the back's of her teammates disappear further into the distance.

"I…I just wanted company." Could he read her thoughts? The way his visible eye burned into her figure, her heart began beat and forced blood to run to her ears.

"Company?" he questioned, a new undertone made his voice husky.

She wanted that feeling again.

She shifted her legs to squeeze together to clench the beginning wetness of her arousal.

Kakashi watched his student begin to squirm in his presence, but he could sniff the lies emanating through her lips — she had come here to talk to him. He would be a liar to say that his dreams hadn't been filled with her in an array of provocative positions since their night together, but this hadn't been her original intention. "What happened?" his voice edged on authoritative, his usually prim student caught the new tone of voice and looked away to bite her lip in an attempt to seal the secrets of what had been discussed in the hospital.

"Nothing…It's nothing," she conceded, in an attempt to convince herself.

Kakashi sighed, "you're a horrible liar. What happened with Sasuke?"

Only one person could torture her with these types of conflicted emotions. Only one person could make her this flustered.

Sakura gawked at his guess, shocked that she could be so transparent under the scrutiny of her sensei, "how did you…?"

He leaned back in his seat and pointed to her arms, "you have bruises on your arms. You wouldn't be here unless something really bothered you, and your eyes are still red from crying. There's only one reason why you would be upset, and that would be if you spoke with Sasuke."

She couldn't believe he had pinned her in such a short time, subconsciously she reached for her arms to check for the bruises she must have missed in the time when Sasuke had grabbed her. The memory of his dismissal, of why he wanted to keep his distance — of her known failure to help stitch their lives together. "I guess I'm really not as useful to this team as I thought. If Naruto had been here…" she stopped, desperately wishing he was here. His strong reserve would never falter in the face of their stubborn teammate.

"I'm assuming he doesn't plan on staying," Kakashi finished the unspoken words that hung off her lips.

She remained quiet, intently focused on her hands in her lap.

"We shouldn't expect him to be compliant, he didn't come here by his own decision," he could see the pain in her, how she wanted to fix the bonds that had been made between them.

"He has his goal, Sakura."

Her stomach dropped, _that_ man was dead. She almost revealed this to Kakashi, but decided this would be a secret of her own. Selfishly, she wanted to keep it — but also knew that this information could be beneficial for her village. As always, Sasuke left her harboring uncertainties — loyalty to her comrades or her village?

It should be an easy choice.

But why did it make her suffer?

"He attacked me last night," she rubbed the bruises on her arms. He must have grabbed her right before he began to strangle her, there was no lie that could dodge this. Kakashi was right, lies didn't fit her character. "—I visited him last night because I couldn't sleep. When I dropped off his food, I really shouldn't have gotten so close — I should have known better."

Kakashi remained rigid, he wanted to defend Sasuke with all the authority he had. He would never turn on the people he cared about, and he drilled into his team's head the importance of taking care of one another — because he had failed to do so years prior. But the way her hand touched the soft skin of her neck and fresh bruises on her arms made him alarmingly irate.

"Please don't say anything, sensei. If Tsunade-shishou finds out…I don't know what will happen."

"Stop." He didn't want her blatantly defending him, putting the blame on herself didn't bode well with Kakashi. For the safety of her own well being, he didn't want her throwing herself in the line of fire that came with Sasuke.

In quick turn of events, he grabbed her and pulled her close to him so she could sit on his lap. She squeaked in surprise at the sudden movement, but their proximity helped lull the events that had occurred. His warmth cracked the hardened cement of her emotions that she had carefully glued together for the past year and a half. Like a dam that had been neglected for too many years, the water began to spill over the edges and creak into the sorrow river that revolved around them. He traced his fingers over the bruises — upset they were at a two way street when it involved Sasuke.

"I can heal them," she said, her words a mere whisper. She dragged her hand up and began to hide the evidence, reminding them both that this was now _their_ shared secret. They couldn't tell the Hokage without expecting serious repercussions — half awake or not - formally attacking a Konohagakure shinobi could be punishable by death. The glow began to dissipate, the dark shades on the windows caste them in dimmed darkness, they leaned on each other — Sakura rested her forehead atop the mop of silver hair. Kakashi laid his cheek on her shoulder and wrapped his arms loosely around her.

They were consciously making a choice to withhold information from their village, and Kakashi knew that a heaviness still pressed itself on Sakura, she knew more than she was telling — when she felt comfortable enough she would tell him. He could only hope she told him before it was too late.

"It hurts…feeling so powerless against him."

"You're not powerless," Kakashi corrected, "he isn't the same person anymore."

He only confirmed what she had feared, but hearing it from her knowledgeable teacher made it more of a truth than a sneaking suspicion.

"Kaka-sensei…" she trailed off, the peace he offered her could erase the pain. "Did we make a mistake?"

He didn't know the answer to that, nor did he understand what they were doing now — but it felt right. "No," he said, slowly his hand began to massage small circles into her side, eliciting a shallow breath.

The same feeling that perpetuated their lives together began to pool in her stomach, she bit her lip in an attempt to calm herself…maybe he didn't want to. They were treading on a dangerous line, she had wanted his help before — now the same reminiscent pleasure pulsed throughout her body in heightened anticipation. "Sensei…"

He silenced her with his mouth.

The sheer material of his mask melded between them, a small hiss of pleasure escaped him when he felt her ass shift against his groin, effectively twitching his length to life. For days he had envisioned this, batted his guilt away, until he warranted that if she permitted — they could continue. Most women he would fuck and leave it at that, no hard feelings and no promises or open threads that there would be something more. He purposely found women equally uninterested in anything more than sex. It was an act to relieve stress, and he didn't qualify himself as someone with a deep sense of romantic attachment.

Under the henge on their mission — he had noted the sway of her hips, the swelling of her breasts, the curves beginning to protrude under an athletic body. Sakura had somehow manifested herself into his life, a mistake — yet the way she peeled back his mask and gently held either side of his face in this moment, disconcerting herself to gaze into his eyes with her own that were brimmed with tears, he leaned forward to etch her pain away.

He took her mouth into his own and nipped at her bottom lip — demanding more. She surrendered herself to him, she hadn't expected to wrap herself around him.

In the face of the pain, this was a small, selfish reprieve for them both.

He invaded her, their tongues battled with one another until they needed to breathe. With small gasps, he began to suckle on her neck. Soft, hot nips at her neck sent her body reeling — his ragged breaths were fueled by her grinding on his lap. He began to thrust his hips upwards, earning him more soft moans. She tilted her head back to allow him better access, and he moved downward until he left a small mark on her collarbone — claiming her.

He understood the gravity of what they were feeling.

Of what she was going through.

Flashes of Rin's expression when he had to use the chidori—

"Sensei!" she yelped when he moved to rip off her vest. He forced the material off of her shoulders until it gathered around her waist — revealing sensitive nipples beneath the flimsy material of her bra. His fingers gently rolled the hardened peaks between the pads of his fingers, causing her to throw her head back and lean it against his shoulder.

With her back pressed against his chest, his hands worked her body until she sung the appropriate tune. Her head lolled against him, his free hand moved to reach between her thighs and brushed against the material of her spandex. Her legs flexed against him, with an expert roll of her hips he groaned into her ear and nipped at her lobe.

She melted on top of him, he knew where to touch that made her body numb with pleasure. Sakura knew she was soaked, the dampness between her thighs reminded her of the stark differences in their experience. Her hips moved on their own, she rubbed her bottom into him — the pressure of his erection against her made her bite her lip.

His fingers hooked themselves over her spandex and began to slide them down leaving her paneled skirt on.

"Shit…Sakura," he breathed throatily. She shifted herself so she could kick off her spandex, and in another practiced move he had her on his lap again, body strewn atop his. He consumed the sight of her heartily, drinking in the softness of her skin — the curve of her breast beneath her bra, the small patch of pink hair that greeted him at the juncture of her thighs.

"Open your legs," he commanded.

Fire shot to her stomach, but she couldn't deny how brazen it made her feel. Slowly, she opened her legs and placed her feet on the arm of the couch to spread herself open. Her cheeks were similar to a molten fire, and he sucked in a breath when she reached between her legs and spread her lips for him.

She wouldn't cease to amaze him.

The audacity of someone with as little as experience as she had.

_Nymph._

He ran his free hand over her stomach, down the gentle slope of her lower abdomen until his fingers teased her slit. She arched her back and urged her hips forward, eyes half-lid pleading with him to help. " _Sensei_ ," she begged softly.

He ushered a finger into her, once again invading her. She stretched for his digit, he felt the spring in him threatening to snap at how her walls clung to his finger. He inserted one more, allowing her body to adjust to his fingers.

She ached — it wasn't nearly enough.

Until he began to coax her body into a steady rhythm. She tossed her head back, soft locks hung over the couch and arched her body off of her teacher, "ahh-!"

He increased his pace, fingers teasing her mercilessly with a rhythmic pace — he curled his fingers inside to reach the apex of her flesh that forced her to moan deliciously for him. Her legs began to tremble when he went faster, her body hummed with anticipation for her orgasm. He touched a place inside of her that made her toes curl and close her eyes — it shouldn't be allowed for her to feel this way.

He leaned forward and kissed her, his fingers never relenting on their pace inside of her. She struggled to coherently kiss him back, shakily she met him with a tender kiss. It was too much, her body began to tremble under the instruction of his fingers. It escalated — the fire that had been building up since he had found her here — she yearned for the release.

She didn't have to wait long —

"Sensei-!" he brushed his thumb over her clit and a tidal wave of pleasure overrode her senses and her walls clung to his fingers, she shuddered atop of him — he watched, captivated in how her body was being consumed by her orgasm. He drew his fingers from her after a few seconds and brought his fingers to his lips — and reveled in the small quiver her body gave when he licked her juices off his fingers.

He made a move to lift her to the bed, but she stopped him midway and caught his eyes with her own. "S-stay still," she murmured softly. The after effects of her orgasm still ripped through her and her legs were still shaky, but she managed to move herself until she sat on her knees in between his legs.

If there had been a sight that enthralled him and he would keep the memory in his mind — would be the look of pure innocence of her tentative eyes when she began to unbutton his pants. His breath caught, his member twitched in anticipation — he had already stained his pants with pre-cum that leaked through his boxers — with gentle fingers she began to drag down his pants until his boxers were the only material covering his hard erection.

"Kaka-sensei," the words rolled off her lips and she leaned forward to place a tentative kiss on his tip through the material.

Fuck.

She would undo him.

Her small, plump lips placed one more kiss on his tip and with her eyes forcing him to stare into her own — he would finish a lot quicker than he wanted.

"Sak—"

A sharp knock on the door rattled the duo into a cold shower of reality that broke the spell of their pleasure. Kakashi had prided himself on quick thinking and clear action all his life, but between his half naked student about to give him head in his living room and her quick yelp in shock — his mind went devastatingly blank through the fog of his arousal.

"Kakashi-senpai!" the deep voice of Tenzou berated them into action.

Sakura began to grab her clothing and fix herself up in hazardous movements that looked rather comical had he been a bystander and _not_ one to get caught. Kakashi motioned for her to run to his room, his member painfully went back into his pants and he began to collect himself. With a low growl of the impending feeling of blue balls, he tucked himself away and told her to wait in his room. He caste a genjutsu in hopes that nothing would be amiss, a light mirage to hide the strewn clothing in his apartment.

If memory served correctly, Tenzou had never been good at dispelling genjutsu.

Another knock and in two more seconds Kakashi lazily opened the door, although inside he wanted to choke the unsuspecting ANBU member. "Yes?" he inquired lazily, half-annoyed to be interrupted, half tempted to cut off all relations with the almond eyed man.

"Genma and I were going to the bar before heading to the upper staff meeting with the Hokage, want to join?"

Death would be too quick for him, Kakashi decided.

xox

He found Asuma the next day stalling by the dango cart in the business district. If there had been one person that could dictate a dash of sense into life with a level headed perspective, Asuma would fit the bill. For the most practical man — it didn't make much sense to Kakashi that he kept the secret of him and Kurenai a secret.

"Waiting for someone?" he offered casually.

Asuma huffed at the presence of the copy nin, eyeing the store Kurenai had entered a few minutes ago to make sure she didn't emerge. "No, just decided to enjoy my last day off before I take my team on a mission next week." The cigarette tilted in his mouth, freshly lit — Kakashi couldn't understand the appeal to cigarettes having only tried them a few times before, aside from the smell it became a hassle to take off his mask.

"Will it be a long trip?" the unspoken rule between the teacher's was to avoid revealing information directly about a mission with a team — however, it became mundane and curiosity broke into casual conversation.

"Not long enough. I'll be back in a week only to head out again and watch over the Fire Daimyo," he bristled negatively. The sash around his waist could go easily unnoticed, but it warranted the respect of those that didn't know he had been a part of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.

Kakashi ordered a dango stick and shook his head, "can he do that? Doesn't seem right for the Hokage to send you out so suddenly."

He took an extra long drag of his cigarette, "you're telling me. By contract, the Fire Daimyo can call on any previous members in case of an emergency. Seeing as the Earth Daimyo got the hit, it's no wonder he's calling in for extra protection."

"I heard about that—" Kakashi could see Kurenai purchasing a dress through the store's window — they must be going on a date soon — or it would be for the spring festival, but his friend had never been one for celebration much like himself. "It's an honor to be called on, at the very least."

Asuma shrugged his shoulders and grimaced at the thought, "I'd rather be in the village during a time like this."

"You? Wanting to stay in the village? I'm surprised." Kakashi could vividly remember the days where Asuma had longed to leave the village — and he did, then became a member of the guardians and returned — albeit there had been a struggle between the Third and his son. What Kakashi wouldn't forget would be the day that he had been re-assigned as a teacher thanks to the level-headed persuasion of this man, Kurenai, and Guy.

He had yet to thank him about that.

"That was a long time ago," Asuma brushed his comment off and became weary when Kurenai exited the shop with her bag in hand, smiling warmly at Kakashi.

"What are you two up to?" she attempted to dispel the image that they had been out together, and he really had to wonder how long they planned to keep their relationship in the shadows. Since they were children they had an easy chemistry with one another — he couldn't imagine them apart.

"I could ask you two the same thing," he countered, the duo glanced at each other in slight surprise but he decided to calm their fears.

"Don't worry, I didn't see anything."

Kurenai moved to hide her bag behind her when a flash of red caught the jounin's attention. He looked past Asuma to see a trail of long, fiery red hair whip in another direction down the street. They began to explain to him that they had just met coincidentally and decided to hang out but he failed to pay attention to them.

There had only been one other person that he knew with that distinct color of hair — and that person had been dead for fifteen years now. He glanced at the two on a date and smiled through his mask, "as much as I'd love to listen, I promised an elderly woman I would read to her — if you'll excuse me," his eye crinkled at the two and he moved past them — instinctually aware that they watched him in blatant dismay to his dismissal.

He rounded the corner of the street to see the vivid red head in the distance speaking to a man selling dumplings, he couldn't see her face because her back was to him, but her size and build matched perfectly. Kakashi rushed forward, he understood that it was quite impossible it could be her, but that rare of a color of hair could only belong to his sensei's wife.

"Kushina…" he murmured to himself, pushing past the crowd of citizens and weaved his way to the woman.

A commotion in the crowd about a shoplifter alerted the people bustling through the street to glance in the direction of the shop owner yelling at a retreating figure into an alleyway. The Police force wasn't nearby and the shop owner pointed at Kakashi.

"You! You're a shinobi, get him!"

He could have rolled his eyes, but one more look in the direction of the redhead and she had disappeared into the throng of people mulling on the street. With the crowd looking at him he leaned forward and made the seal to summon Pakkun.

"Yo, boss," the small pug yawned and patted his paw over his mouth before noticing the crowd around them.

"I need you to track a woman with red hair that went down that street. Hurry!" he ushered him that way and moved quickly in the direction of the thief the shop owner erratically pointed to. Pakkun sprinted down the street in the opposite direction — causing a small amount of confusion to the people watching a small mammal with a hitai-ate running between their legs.

What a day.

xox

"Bye, Sakura. Don't forget to get some sleep for tomorrow, Tsunade-sama wants us to practice stitch bonding arteries tomorrow on a patient," Shizune chimed from the hallway to bid the pink haired medic goodbye for the day.

"Alright, Shizune-san." She waved her goodbye and draped her coat on the rack in the back room and stretched, her first day back at the hospital after a full week off thanks to Sasuke's return and she already felt rusty. Her chakra waned after a half day of training with Tsunade and then finishing her day at the hospital.

A shower and bath couldn't come sooner.

She walked down the hall towards the exit slowly, mentally debating to visit Sasuke again but decided against it. Their last conversation had only left her more confused and hurt — anything she said right now after only a day since they spoke would only prove to create bigger rift between them than before.

Over time maybe he would get used to the idea of being home.

Sakura knew it was a naive thought, but it served better to give her hope than face what he consistently told her. She left the hospital with the tremulous thoughts of her teammate and…Kakashi. She hadn't seen him since she made a grand escape the other day from his apartment, but half of her wanted to focus on her training once more and put the thought of her sensei away for a small breather.

"No use in worrying over the small things," she murmured to herself.

The walk to her house always left her in a state of tranquility due to avoiding the main roads and the stream that cut into her neighborhood. The nocturnal creatures sung around her — it was the weekend and while many other people her age were busying themselves with the night life their village had to offer, she would get some sleep and wake up at dawn to start her day over.

Life of a kunoichi — although the hotsptrings sounded like a haven considering the past few weeks she had, maybe she would find Ino and force her to go with her on her next day off.

She tilted her head to get a a better look at the moon that had marked it's arrival with the fading sun, the exchange of light left her home in the twilight time that couldn't be considered day or night. Sakura smiled to herself, she had always loved her village — and although she knew it was far beyond perfect, she couldn't imagine living elsewhere.

In the distance she noticed a blazing light near the Hokage monument. She narrowed her eyes to see a fire had started — "that's weird—"

A bomb echoed around the premise in the west end of the village, her head whipped in that direction to get a better look — but she nearly got thrown off her feet when another bomb shook the ground beneath her. Heads began to peer from the apartment complex at the sudden noise echoing around the village — until it blew up and sent her launching into the dirt twenty feet away.

The wind got knocked out of her and a sudden, splitting noise in her ears made her curl up in the face of the explosion.

The world became a a bleary, mind numbing sound.

She couldn't hear anything — but the apartment that had stood tall in front of her resided in a pile of rubble and uplifted dust. Her heart dropped as the flames danced before her…all those lives had been taken.

Another bomb tore apart another section of her village towards the east. Sakura forced herself to her feet, confused and dazed at the sudden blaring noise of the sirens going off in the village.

Screams cut in throughout portions of the village, she stood up and glanced at her arm to see a large gash — although she couldn't feel anything she was sure it was broken. Another bomb in the southern end lit up the incoming night sky and adrenaline kicked itself into her body.

Her village was being attacked.

She began to run towards the hospital, people were running from their homes, parents carrying wailing children to the citizens area. She saw multiple ANBU teams bounding over the rooftops towards the bomb sights.

She had to help.

Sakura forced chakra into her feet and launched herself up to the rooftop.

The sight crushed her. Never before had she wanted to collapse and watch as her _home, her village_ lit up in dozens of fires that decorated the city, buildings were leveled out and the stench of ash rained down on the village —- the screams of the people cried in unison and more bombs echoed around them, a new source of anger catapulted itself into her chest. Who could do this to them? Why would anyone cause such destruction to innocent civilians? Her fists clenched at her sides - she had to help

She needed to find Kakashi.

" _Please! Someone help!_ "

The feral cry stopped the kunoichi from her original task to follow the cries of a woman. Sakura bounded over the rooftops towards a mother crying and holding her lifeless child in her arms in an abandoned street — the gruesome scene could have made her double over and wretch, but the mother held onto a child with it's body torn apart from one of the bombs. She leaned over in an attempt to help the screeching woman.

New mission in mind — she had to help the people evacuate and heal those that she could find in the midst of the chaos.

"Ma'am, you need to go to the citizens evacuation area—"

Two incredibly strong chakra signatures behind her forced her to whip around.

Her throat dried up at the sight of the two men before her.

"We're going to need you to move, un."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the plot thickens!
> 
> In any case, thank you to everyone that has left a kudos and constructive criticism. 
> 
> If you enjoy this story, don't forget to let me know what you think or leave a subscription notice.


	5. We Hide Behind the Flames

That morning, unlike the past two weeks where he had woken up with a devastatingly tight erection that forced him to take care of himself before he began the day — he woke up with the vivid memories of the people that he had lost with their backs to him. At the forefront stood the shadowy figure of his mother that he could hardly remember, and beside her stood the tired outline of his father. Behind them stood the clear figures of his old team, his sensei, friends, and everyone else that he had lost over the course of his life.

The room seemed to fill itself every year.

Kakashi could normally subdue the bad days with witty banter and busy reading — he had half a mind to find Sakura and finish what they started the other day, but he couldn't focus well enough to get the memory of his dream at bay, the same dream he had countless of times - but this time left him a hopeless victim to the dreary day.

He decided that instead he would be a recluse in his barren apartment, he didn't spend enough time here for how much rent he paid — he might as well actually _live_ in it.

That night he knew why that dream came to him, it was the same dream that came the night that his father had died, it was the same dream he had the day Obito had given him his eye, the same dream when he had to kill Rin, and the same dream when Sasuke had left the village.

He should have known the instinctive feeling from the past week didn't just settle on what he did with Sakura and the repercussions of his decision, he should have narrowly listened to Shikamaru's suspicions better — because when he felt the hardened chakra blast into the neighborhood beside him that night, the dream should have been taken as a prophecy that he would lose someone else close to him.

He didn't expect it to be this many.

Kakashi barreled over the rooftops of his destroyed village still being detonated with dangerously high, condensed chakra that felt eerily familiar. He couldn't place the source of where the bombs were coming from, but after he found Sakura they would need to get to the Hokage, undoubtedly Sakura would have been working late at the hospital and he knew that the hospital would be a prime target for whoever initiated this attack.

The screams around the village gripped him like a vice, the medics had been disbursed to find and collect the civilians and take them to the evacuation area, but the devastation reminded him of the night when the Kyuubi attacked — he would never forget the feeling of being forcibly held in a safe zone unable to do anything while his sensei saved the village.

"Kakashi!"

He twisted his body to see Gai struggling with a family of injured civilians, or what had been a family. The mother's body was limply strewn across the street while the father struggled to cope with his three children, two of whom were severely injured.

The scent of blood clung to the air.

Gai was attempting to gather the family and lead them to the evacuation area, and leave it to the Crimson Beast to have a half-hazard smile on his face in the chaos to calm down the children who were justifiably hysterical.

"Grab those two and I'll help these two to the evacuation center — do you know where Tsunade-sama is?!" he called out to him once Kakashi reached them.

Kakashi shook his head and leaned forward to grab the young boy who couldn't have been older than three years old. He was bleeding profusely from his leg that had been torn apart by the bomb that had killed his mother, the sight alone reminded him of the injustices in their world.

"No. — Gai we have to get them to the medics first!" he barked, there should be a medical team nearby — it was happening quickly but the most heavy bombing had been near the shopping district.

Vivid images of where Sakura could be plagued him, by now she would be helping the civilians or clearing out the patients in the hospital-

"—There's a medical team placed by the safe zone, we'll need to take them there first," Kakashi finished, with no clear indication of who was behind the bombings, they would need to help the civilians first — by the laws in their village all high ranking shinobi were to find the source of the threat under the circumstances the village was under attack and wait for the Hokage's orders, but that would have to be put aside so he could help these kids.

"Alright — sir you need to follow us please," Gai ordered, together they led the family to the evacuation zone that could easily be more chaotic than the demolished streets in their village. Medics were running around in an attempt to sort out the people that needed immediate attention and creating a makeshift hospital zone. Iruka could be seen in the distance shouting to the people to get them in order, children were screaming for their parent's and more shinobi and people were running into the evacuation center in droves.

"Kakashi!" clearly distraught, Shizune ran up to him with a fierce look of confusion and pain, "have you seen Sakura-san? She had just left for her shift from the hos—"

"She's not here with you?" he cut in, half expecting to see her bob of pink hair within the cave healing people.

"No, I had just said goodbye to her when I heard the first explosion — I thought that you may have seen her," she panted — medics were yelling for materials and Shizune shook her head in dismay, "and you haven't seen Tsunade-sama?" her voice teetered on pleading — begging him for an _ounce_ of good news.

A mild amount of worry stabbed itself in his chest, he knew Sakura was more than capable of handling herself, but if she had been caught in an explosion… "I'm going to look for her," he paused to see Gai had settled the family in the medical tent and was about to leave back into the mess, "— I haven't, but I know Yamato was with her for a briefing."

More desperate cries of pain echoed around the cave and Shizune nodded her head, "please find them, Kakashi." The brown haired woman ran towards the medic station in a hurry — Kakashi didn't waste any time and left with Gai into the mess of their village.

Instinctively, he knew she should have reached the evacuation zone to help Shizune by now — and he could only hope that Sakura could handle herself until he found her.

xox

She was _not_ handling this well.

The past ten minutes she had cleverly been dodging the seemingly infinite amount of attacks these two threw at her - but by this point it felt like they were toying with her more than anything.

With her back pressed against a wall, she kept her eyes narrowed on the two Akatsuki members in front of her, one of which had been lingering back with his blond hair while the other…Man? Thing? Kept bombarding her with an array of attacks that she kept narrowly missing. Normally, she would have retreated knowing it was a suicide wish to fight these two alone, but they wouldn't give her a second to escape.

"Why are you attacking the village?!" she cried out, doubling forward to avoid the thick mass of senbons that impaled themselves into the wall behind her that left the mouth of the... _puppet?_

"Impressive," the croaky voice from the shorter male complimented, with an indignant eye roll the blond male behind him shook his head.

"You're taking too long, hm!" He stepped forward and a small origami bird appeared in his hand, Sakura remained crouched — ready to spring away from the assault, but what she didn't expect was for the man to throw the clay bird towards her.

"This is why…." he paused, and with a hardened stare Sakura launched herself ten feet away to safely distance herself — "art is a _bang_!"

A deafening bomb exploded near her, sending her catapulting into a tree nearby that caught her smaller body. Wind forcibly knocked out of her lungs, she coughed out a generous amount of blood — had that bird exploded…or did he set up a different trap? Incoherent thoughts that she couldn't properly decipher echoed in her head, but all she could feel were the wounds that immobilized her to leaning against the cracked tree. Being hit by her shishou for months on end during her intense training made her painfully aware of her internal damage. Sakura knew she had at least two broken ribs and a ruptured spleen. She blinked black the bleariness from her vision and forced her wobbly legs to stand.

"Do you think she knows where the jinchuuriki is, yeah?" the blond male asked, she could hear the sound of them coming closer — she refused to die like this.

_Wait._

Attention caught, a new driving source of anger formulated in her throat, "what do you want with Naruto?" she demanded weakly.

The blond male cackled and glanced at his partner who remained rather still, scorpion tale posed for attack, "take her, Deidara. We can use her as bait."

He glanced around them incredulously, pointing to the magnificent fires in the village, "why can't you do it? Leader-sama wanted me to handle the village. I'm not going to waste my time taking some girl, hm!"

The two partners glared at one another, and Sakura took this open window of opportunity to create a shadow clone and rushed forward, gathering a minute amount of chakra on her fists and pummeling it into the ground — effectively causing the unsuspecting duo to stumble while the earth ripped itself open — the scorpion tale darted forward and impaled itself into the shadow clone. With a satisfying _pop!_ the shadow clone dispersed and the real Sakura came from above, her shadow on the ground notified the duo and the blond male kicked himself out of the way — allowing her fist connected with the puppet. The sound of the shell cracking almost made the blond male howl in laughter at her failed attack - until it exploded with the heavy amount of chakra she collected at her knuckles. The puppet's outer shell blew up, splintering the wood into hundreds of jagged pieces and she doubled back panting, a satisfied smirk tipped the outer corner of her lips upward.

Slowly, she took this time to spread her chakra within her to begin mending the internal damage to her organs when the bomb went off, but kept her body poised for attack. Deidara glanced at his partner and struggled to retain his laughter, "looks like your art didn't hold up against pinky here, yeah."

The dust cleared from around the puppet, the broken pieces had shattered against the strength of her punch. A body on the floor revealed the person that had been working the puppet. He refrained from saying anything to his annoying partner — but Sakura could only watch in horror as Deidara calmed his laughing and began to produce small clay sculptures from…his _hands_?

The grotesque mouths lapped at the lips on his hands, she grimaced at the sight which made the Akatsuki member grin maniacally at her, "I'm surprised you're still walking, Pinky."

Sasori stood then, his red hair contrasted with the black on his customary robe, only accented by the red clouds that Sakura had only heard in folktale among the meetings that Tsunade-shishou let her attend — she did not think she would ever face one of these men alone, let alone two. "We need her _alive_ , Deidara."

Sakura glared at the two men speaking frivolously about her, "like hell I'll let you take me —"

Deidara raised two fingers in front of him to silence her, "don't make this complicated, hmm. Do you see this?" he motioned towards the burning village with a crazed smile, "this is _real_ art. It's a fleeting moment of beauty that vanishes gloriously!"

She had guessed after his first attempt to kill her that he had been the one behind the bombing, anyone with such thick and distinguished chakra drenched in it could only mean that he had been the source of this devastation. With irregular book smarts she could only put two and two together to figure out that he had something horrendous planned -

Sakura lunged forward to try and stop him - " _no_!"

" _Katsu_!"

The ground shook harmoniously around her, in unison a round of bombs detonated around the village in a synchronized wall of flames. Sakura could only watch helplessly as fires erupted around her home in a stage of smoke and death. The air smelt of sulfur, thick clouds of black bellowed into the sky that blocked the moon, creating an infinite darkness that gagged her. Her chest sank, he had effortlessly taken down chunks of her home — how many people had died by now?

Her lower lip quivered, the realization that this man had destroyed her home with a smile on his face shot an arrow through her, her fingers clasped into tight fists. Deidara watched with a peculiar eye, basking in her pain — "enjoying the view, yeah?"

She ran forward, chakra gathered at her knuckles leaving a trail of blue behind her, a harsh cry left soft lips. Deidara laughed at her and almost taunted the kunoichi but a statuesque face appeared in front of her before she could reach him. Her fist collided with a…. _another puppet_? It splintered around her, but a second puppet cut her arm with a sword before she could flip out of the way.

A second later and he would have stabbed her in the stomach.

She doubled back, the floor started to sway beneath her feet but she blinked back the unfamiliar feeling of vertigo.

Deidara released another origami bird from his palms and threw it into the air, she readied herself to run in case it was another explosive - but it expanded large enough for him to jump on it.

"We're going to need to take her now, Deidara." _  
_

_I need to leave._

Being a short range fighter against two highly skilled and highly lethal long range fighters wouldn't work in her favor. They would capture her and try to extract information about Naruto — and although she had an _idea_ of where Jiraiya and him may be, she didn't know what they were capable of forcibly getting out of her. Sakura refused to be a part of their plan to take her best friend, and she refused to die here without helping her village.

For the first time in this battle she started to panic.

Sakura lifted her leg and slammed her heel into the ground when one of the puppets rushed towards her, the ground split evenly creating a trench where the pressure of her chakra broke through the ground, the puppet barely dodged out of the way but the blond maniac had already hopped onto his large bird.

She took this moment of uncertainty to run. She pushed chakra to her feet and ran through the alleyways that had been ingrained into her head, every ounce of her wanted to keep fighting — but she had to reach the evacuation zone and tell Tsunade-shishou. She knew she had seen the blond man's face in the bingo book before.

Naively she had remarked how someone so _young_ could be in the Akatsuki.

Unfortunately, she understood it now.

The stench of death surrounded her, more dead bodies than she ever wanted to see in her home littered the ground. The buildings had been caved in — other areas had been protected by Yamato-san's wood release, the fading wood had covered parts of the Hokage tower in the distance. Tears danced at the edges of her eyes, they stung from the heavy smoke permeating the air and her mind struggled to cope with the horrendous destruction of her village.

_I'm so close!_

If she could reach the evacuation center, than she could help heal people and find Tsunade-shishou and let her know that they were doing this to find Naruto.

Her legs were begging for forgiveness - which was odd since her stamina had always been her strong attribute, but the more she ran the more sluggish her body became. The world started to dim around her, her tongue began to numb — large eyes widened in recognition.

His sword had been poisoned.

Once Sakura realized it the effects hit her like a war hammer. She couldn't feel the tips of her fingers, the soiled ground flipped upwards, or had she fallen? Her breathing stifled and dreary darkness crept onto the outer rims of her vision.

_No!_

She fell a few blocks away from the evacuation center.

Her legs wouldn't work.

She leaned weakly against a brick wall.

Sakura coughed once - blood spurt out onto the ground in front of her - surely she had a punctured lung that her healing chakra couldn't get to. Her body refused to work under her command.

_'_ _So this is how I die,'_ she thought remorsefully.

Unable to save anyone when her village was attacked and didn't even land a scratch on the men that were harming her friends and family. Stubbornly, she fought against the darkness that beckoned her, she grit her teeth and lifted her hand to the open wound on her arm. The day Tsunade-shishou had forced her to study different types of poisons — two books worth - had been a pain. As a hobby she loved studying new material and memorizing it — but the pressure of healing someone when they had been poisoned had been difficult. She needed a sterilized room….A pan with warm water, and she needed it to be quiet so she could focus on dismantling the bonds of the poison and filter it out of the blood before it spread to the rest of the body.

Sakura had none of those, and even less chakra.

"No," she grit her teeth and forced herself to focus.

A soft glow caressed her hand — she would have to try.

She worked a glob of chakra into her wound, crying out at the sudden pain of her own chakra intruding into her arteries. She pushed the chakra through, closing out the sound of her village burning and worked the initial poison out of the entrance of the wound. _Further_ — she bit her lip to stop herself from crying, nearly drawing blood from the sheer pain.

It felt like her blood was coagulating, but she pushed herself to keep going — she refused to die here, not when she had improved and trained relentlessly to help Naruto and stand on the same level with her teammates. Too many times she had given up and decided that it would be better to rely on others, but as a disciple of the Fifth Hokage — " _aah_!"

Furious at herself for getting into this mess and not able to do anything but get herself hurt - she bit down on the edge of her vest to silence herself.

_Keep going-_

Tears formed and slipped over the slopes of her cheeks, any further and she would be extending her chakra too thin within her system, but she could feel the poison seep itself into her absorbing chakra, it felt vile and slick compared the normal blood cells. Like a green magnet she collected the poison and dragged it out of her until a scream ripped itself from her throat.

Her vision dimmed.

Sakura slowed her breathing and tossed the glob of chakra with remnants of the poison in a pile of rubble beside her. The screaming from the civilians in the village continued, but her body refused to move.

She had been too late to help anyone.

Her body still had the poison running through her system — and although the immediate effects had slowed down, she could feel herself teetering closer to unconsciousness. Even as a _rookie_ medic she knew that unless there was an antidote - she would succumb to the poison. She searched through the loads of information Tsunade had taught her — but she couldn't think straight or coherently enough to think of a plan.

"Sakura!"

_Who?_

"Sakura!"

The voice sounded distant, she couldn't decipher who it belonged to. Somewhere in her subconscious she knew it sounded familiar, but she felt herself losing to the darkness. She was dying. Strong arms gripped her, the distinct smell of clean aftershave and _home_ reminded her of the voice that was speaking to her.

"Kaka-sen—"

Her world went black.

xox

He nearly missed being detonated in his search for his student.

Clear as day - the turmoil the village faced now could only be comparable to when the nine-tails had torn through homes with a swipe of it's paw, he remembered walking out of the cave and working tirelessly for days searching for survivors and the bodies of shinobi. This time - when the ground shook beneath him and the bombs went off in a synchronized blast that ripped up half of his village - he had to wonder which was worse now.

Minutes later, he found her.

Kakashi knew the dream should have told him to be on high alert — regrets were palpable when he held the limp body of his student in his arms. Kakashi could sense the life in her still, but her pulse usually held a vibrancy for life that was slowly diminishing. He found her halfway unconscious near the evacuation center, and if it hadn't been for Pakkun's spectacular nose he would have missed her stained pink hair against all of the rubble.

Whether it be the magnificent growth she went through in the year and a half he had been away — or her capabilities that he had only recognized but never utilized, he knew that whoever did this to her had not been a simple C-class shinobi.

Kakashi had sent Pakkun to search _where_ she had fought to get a better idea of who she may have come across — and if they could find them again, because although the trackers had been sent out — the destruction around their village made it impossible to understand who was behind this.

Gai had left in search of the Hokage, but he had a surmountable feeling that wherever their leader was — she was in one hell of a battle.

He barged into the medical tent with Sakura in his arms, all medics turned to look at him — "Shizune!"

She had been working on fixing a civilian's open stomach wound with a few medics, but at the call of her name she looked up to see Sakura in Hatake's arms — with a few orders to the others on what to do she rushed over and glanced at the body of her student and knitted her brows. "What happened to her?!"

They moved to lay her on an empty bed, two other nurses that he could safely assume were coworkers glanced at her frail form with twisted hearts. Quickly they began to run an IV into her system and Shizune began to rip off her clothing to get a better look, "Kakashi!" she snapped at him, still waiting for an answer.

"I found her a few streets away, it looks like she was trying to run here but couldn't make it — she was conscious enough to recognize me when I found her before she passed out."

Shizune began to cover every inch of her body like a fine tuned microscope, searching for lacerations and open wounds that could be the cause. "The only wound here is this cut on her arm that looks like she managed to minimally heal…" Her chakra poured itself over the kunoichi — "she has severe internal damage and a broken rib that is semi-mended…."

After a few slow, tantalizing seconds a rigid gasp left the renowned medic, "she's been poisoned."

Kakashi couldn't claim that he was very knowledgeable in how poisons worked, but his gut instinct was to think that this attack originated from sound — Sound and Sand were known for their use of lethal poisons, but what he _did_ know that an antidote would be needed, "what do you need?"

Shizune shook her head with a frustrated sigh, "Tsunade-sama would be better to figure out the materials needed, but we don't have time and no one knows where she is. I can stall the affects of the poison with a herbal remedy Tsunade-sama created, but without the correct items needed we can't create an antidote."

Kakashi needed to find the Hokage, he refused to let his student die without doing what he could to possibly help.

"Jojo!" Shizune yelled, a nearby medical assistant ran forward, "I need you to get the herbal antidote that we have in reserve in the supply tent in the green viles, understood?" the male nodded his head and ran off towards the other end of the cave and Shizune worked her chakra through Sakura's system, "—Omai, please get me a clean basin — I'm going to try and get rid of the rest of the poison that hasn't reached her organs yet."

Another nurse ran to get the necessary supplies, and he could see the worry that was beginning to plague Shizune's form — her brows creased and an intense focus that he didn't think he could ever muster shut out the events around her.

Kakashi couldn't watch this, shivers began to envelop Sakura's petite body. Her skin went from her normal porcelain to nearly translucent, her veins became more prominent — he could visibly see the poison work it's way through her system.

He had to find Tsunade —

Like a messiah with fringed wings, he could hear the authoritative voice of their Hokage barking orders in the background. The world started to clear with an indication of what needed to be done, her blond hair among the hysteria was a reprieve. Kakashi ran towards the daunting form of their Hokage who looked like she had recently fought for her life.

"Hokage-sama!"

"Hatake!" she barked, honey eyes lament with furious anger, "you need to go assist Yamato and the other ANBU fighting the Akatsuki members outside. I have dispatched trackers to find the rest that are here, our hidden archives and the Hokage tower have been breached - those bastards are looking for Naruto!" he could feel the seething rage burn off her skin.

"You need to go to the med—"

"That's where I'm going. — Tell Yamato to use his wood release to protect the rest of the village and order all Earth users to help with solidifying us from the bombing. I want you to take all remaining teams and Jounin level shinobi or higher and dispatch them into teams. You'll be maintaining the offensive attack, got it?"

Kakashi didn't say anything but instead looked back towards Sakura.

Tsunade was about to verbally tear him apart until she trailed his line of sight and visibly stilled at the sight of her apprentice lying on the cot.

" _What_ happened to her?" she growled.

"I found her near the evacuation center, Shizune says she's been poisoned — probably by one of the Akatsuki member's."

Tsunade sighed evenly, he could see the hardened pain and frustration she felt - but a solid determination forced her to stay rigid, "it was probably Sasori of the Red Sand. Recently a two manned team attacked Sunagakure looking for Gaara, one being Sasori. A team of ANBU died from latent poisoning -."

He walked beside the brisk woman - waiting for the rest of his instruction while she formulated the rest of her plan.

"—I'm going to have to summon Katsuyu to help heal everyone — as of now there are four Akatsuki members out there that have initiated battle — do **not** let them leave this village alive!"

Duties decided, Kakashi flickered off leaving the safety of his student in the Hokage's hands.

He found the late stages of the battle near the main veins of the village. Shinobi that he had grown up with were in a prolific line fighting against the four Akatsuki members. One circled above on a bird where as the other three remained on the ground —

"Senpai!" Yamato panted, jaw clenched as he maintained the wood release above them — the long branches of earth style user kept Deidara at bay attempting to dodge the sharp tendrils of wood that followed him.

One of the members shot out his arm that was connected by black tendrils, nearly encircling Asuma who cut it down with his chakra blade, "glad you could finally join us Kakashi!" Asuma shouted to his left.

"Yamato, the Hokage wants you and all the other earth style users to cover the village and stop the bombings, I'll distract him long enough for you to gather them."

With unspoken words, Yamato dropped his wood release and took off. Kakashi took the coverage as an opportunity to launch himself forward with his chidori beaming to life — the loud cackling caught Deidara's attention, but the clay user couldn't weave his bird out of the way in time — Kakashi's arm pierced the thick underbelly— and a loud _pop_! effectively sent Deidara falling towards the earth.

Sharingan activated, he made the hand signals to use the water dragons — the twin dragons roared to life and Kakashi fell on a nearby rooftop whereas the dragons enveloped Deidara and sent him falling drenched in the sharp, chakra laced water. What he didn't expect was for one of the other Akatsuki members to use a summon to shoot electricity at the water dragons — the blond man doubled out of the way and screeched in anger.

"What the _fuck_ , Kakuzu — you could have killed me, hmph!"

Said Kakuzu refocused on his fight with Asuma. The summons destroyed the area around them with different styles of heavy jutsu —

If not for fast reflexes, Kakashi would have missed the scythe that had been aimed to take off his head. He fell forward towards the ground off of the building and slid to a stop on the wall — the man with a scythe ran towards him with a bright smile.

"Wooo hooo!"

Kakashi made another hand signal and used his earth release to sink the scythe user's feet into the mud — temporarily slowing him down.

The air picked up around them, nearly toppling him off of the wall — whoever was using the summon could use each style at a dangerous amount. Fortunately, Gai's quick senses landed a heavy kick to the back to the scythe wielder that stood behind Kakashi, sending him flying into the opposite wall. "How long has this been going on?" Kakashi questioned — Gai glanced at the four offending shinobi and shot a youthful glare.

"I came here about ten minutes ago — we've been occupying them, but we don't know if there are anymore in the village —"

The trio had done a good job in distracting them from moving any further through the village —- "Tsunade said that they were able to break into the archives?"

"Hey ladies, if you don't mind?" Asuma shouted at them — he had been able to land a hit on Kakuzu, cutting his arm off — but the water jet that shot from one of the mouth's of the summons easily cut through the building that Asuma had been standing in front of.

The two rivals landed next to Asuma.

"We can't let them leave," Kakashi watched as Deidara climbed on another bird and ran forward. As a long range father he had to assume that he wouldn't be good in hand to hand combat. A tagged kunai flew through the air and pierced the soft clay until it exploded into a soft pile of unworkable clay.

An angry hiss sucked through Deidara's teeth, "you knew hitting me with water would make my clay nonconductive, didn't you?"

"But he also forget that we're here," a puppet launched itself in front of him — Kakashi flipped backwards and used the sole of his foot to kick the puppet away from him — so they were protecting the bomber. A light ticked off in Kakashi's head. These members were only a distraction for them — there had to be more. All of the other jounin and ANBU had yet to come here, which meant that they were still fighting at the archives or Hokage tower.

The bombing had been a distraction to lure them out to fight these men while the others infiltrated the archives to get information on Naruto. By protecting the bomber - it worked to keep them on the move and the village in unorganized chaos until they found the information they needed. Kakashi wanted to change tactics, but with the Hokage's firm orders he had to wait until Yamato arrived with the other earth style users.

Kakashi activated the chidori — "Gai, Asuma! Make a pathway for me -!"

Asuma and Gai nodded, the duo ran forward — narrowly missing the fire bomb that encased the area, another puppet almost hit him — "avoid getting hit by the puppet's weapons!"

Gai kicked the puppet away, taking off one of it's arms — in a harmonized dance of highly evasive taijutsu, Gai occupied Sasori's puppets. Their last problem was Kakuzu, with the small amount of people here they needed another body to fight the summons. The wind picked up again, he charged forward and almost missed his change to hit Deidara — but Asuma came just in time to ward off Hidan's scythe from chopping his head off.

_Two seconds_ …

The wind almost toppled him over, but he could see Deidara launch himself into the air once more — Kakuzu stood in his way and almost prevented him from getting to the blond, but the beady green eyes alerted him that something was wrong. The wind stopped, the heart summons refused to budge — behind the roof's ledge he could see Shikaku and Shikamaru intently focusing on their shadow possession jutsu.

Inoichi, Yamato, Anko, and Genma arrived to the battle — a small tinge of relief flooded through him.

Each Akatsuki member became painfully aware of how out numbered they were when the earth style users appeared with Yamato.

"...We got what we wanted," Kakuzu called out to the other members, "we need to retreat for now."

Sasori stilled his puppets, they only had a few minutes before they could leave. If they wanted to — they could win this battle, each member knew this — Sasori alone could handle an army, but their plans were different than aimlessly fighting in Konoha.

What none of them expected was to see their leader in the distance.

Hidan whistled appreciatively, "looks like you made it in time."

Before the Konoha shinobi could attack, the Akatsuki members disappeared.

Even Kakashi's trained eye couldn't memorize where they could have possibly gone — he glanced upwards — the bird had left with them. All eyes glanced around wearily, half expecting them to reappear out of thin air, but their chakra signatures were gone.

"How did they do that?" Asuma questioned, eyes narrowed as if they may appear beside him.

"Time-space jutsu," Kakashi concluded — no scent of a trail of them had been left, but who would have the vast amount of chakra needed to transport four grown men in different areas at the same time? He remembered Minato-sensei had talked about it quite frequently, seeing as it held similar attributes to his body flicker jutsu.

"They're capable of doing that?" Shikaku questioned, dropping down from his perch on a ledge with Shikamaru in tow.

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief — they destroyed half of their village to extract information on Naruto whereabouts, the body count would be high — and if Tsunade said that they had recently attacked Suna for knowledge on Gaara, they were moving with their plans quickly.

"Were there any other members?" Kakashi called out to the group.

"Kisame of the Hidden Mist wrecked the archives — took out the group of ANBU stationed there — by reports the Hokage tower had been infiltrated by a masked figure—" Inoichi explained gravely.

"That's the same masked figure Tsunade-sama and I fought when the bombing first started, he wore the same cloak as the others — we were able to get out of the Hokage tower and I managed to keep it from being destroyed, but it happened so quickly... " Yamato spoke up, he looked worse for wear — the heavy use of his wood release had taken a toll on him.

Kakashi nodded and took an even breathe, "then we need to find all remaining civilians and shinobi that are injured and take them to the medical tents. Yamato - stay here with the other earth style users in case he comes back."

The group disbanded to help the people in the village — before that, Kakashi had a place he needed to check.

xox

Kakashi would never claim that he was a genius — he just had exceptional guessing skills. Other people viewed it as luck, but most of the time the people that revered him as a "genius" also failed to realize that having a smart intuition could be interpreted as a type of genius. However, this time he hoped that his guess would prove to be incorrect.

He stood at the entrance of the hospital that had been cleared of most of it's inhabitants during the time of the bombing. Fortunately, it looked like the hospital had been omitted from the severe wreckage — which proved his theory further that they didn't intend to destroy key areas of the village, but had been a distraction.

By the time he reached Sasuke's room — an integral part of him knew that he would be gone. The part of him that could relate and understand the loneliness his student felt could comprehend why he refused to stay in this village. Kakashi stepped past two unconscious ANBU and unhinged doors strewn to the side. He entered the room slowly, he gave a frustrated sigh that did nothing to fill the empty room.

The seals and chains had been broken through — the part Kakashi didn't understand was why the room look ransacked, obviously the ANBU didn't fight him in here if they were knocked unconscious so easily. The bed had been tossed upside down — had it been a struggle to get the seals and chains off of him?

Regrettably, he knew that Sakura would have wanted to speak with him further even though their last meeting had served to only confuse her further — and Tsunade would be furious to know that not only did the Akatsuki get away, but the one person that might hold relative information about them and Orochimaru's whereabouts had escaped.

"Shit." Reservations gone — the stress of everything surrounding him crept onto his shoulders and he kicked a chair out of his way that belonged in the torn up hospital room.

In the corner of the room a single red strand of hair caught Kakashi's attention. He tilted his head to get a better look and leaned forward to pick it up. The long, individual strand matched the same fiery red hair he had seen the day prior that Pakkun couldn't get a lead on.

He brought the piece of hair closer to him for inspection.

"I think you're looking for her." Sasuke appeared in the doorway, hand twisted roughly in the red hair of a woman that couldn't have been much older than Sakura — but had the same uncanny fiery hair that had belonged to Kushina.

The girl struggled against him, kicking and hollering with a book in her hand — Sasuke grabbed the book and tossed it towards Kakashi's feet, "and you might need that."

Kakashi kept his eyes focused on the two and leaned down to grab the book that was filled with a list of places that Jiraiya had been updating Tsunade with. They wanted Naruto, but he understood that Sasuke had different reasons for not leaving the village yet.

"How _dare_ you Sasuke!" she screeched, "I'll _never_ forgive you!"

With a simple jab to the neck, the young girl went unconscious and slumped pitifully at Sasuke's feet.

Kakashi stared at his exiled student — wondering what he could have possibly said in the past that may have changed the course of his life. It felt like all of his previous teacher's could come up with allegoric advice that he could apply to his life — but he had never learned that skill when it came to the people he taught.

"What do you think you're doing, Sasuke?"

His mismatched eyes met the hollow red of the mangekyo sharingan.

"Honoring my brother's life's work."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break on updating this chapter, I had went on vacation and couldn't update.   
> But!
> 
> Thank you for all of the wonderful comments and people that have left this story kudos, I really appreciate it and hope you all enjoy this new chapter!
> 
> If you enjoy this story don't forget to leave a subscription notice, thank you!


	6. Lavender and Dogwood

Lavender.

It smelt like lavender.

Dogwood?

No.

Jasmine.

The scent invaded her senses, but why would she be smelling  _lavender_?

Ino used to go into vivid detail about what every flower meant and the attributes that could be applied when you gave a person that flower — and at one point Sakura had become obsessive about which flower represented her. Ironically, the flower that symbolized her name never crept into those descriptions, but instead she had become fascinated with sprouting from a bud into a flower — whatever flower that may be.

" _A flower is meaningless unless it blooms, right?_ "

Ino.

Lavender. Wait. Jasmine?

Ino.

A spark of terror sprouted in her chest, where  _was_ her rival during the attack?

Consciousness fluttered into her view, she could reach for it if she grabbed it — but her body felt so incredibly  _heavy._

Smoke took place of the relaxing scent of jasmine, the memories of the people strewn across her streets — the dark clouds that perpetrated the serene clouds that had touched the sky after she left the hospital.

Darkness cradled her, but the evasive scent of lavender or jasmine refused to let her succumb to the pillows of unconsciousness.

_Where_  were her parents?

The distant, intrinsic frown of her mother and overtly jovial laugh of her father forced a numbness into her body.

"I think she's waking up!"

That voice — could it be Shizune-san?

Sakura wanted to cry, wanted to scream against the dreariness her body clung onto. The memories surrounded her — her last memory was the sound of her sensei's voice — had he saved her? She couldn't take out enough of the poison, it had already circulated in her blood stream for too long before he reached her. She had tried, she had tried and once again failed to help the people she cared about but managed to get saved by her sensei— all she did was manage to divert the attacks on her village for a few minutes and crack open the puppet.

" _A flower more beautiful than the cosmos."_

What happened to her friends?

To Kakashi-sensei?

Maybe her village was burned to the ground and she was wondering in the confusion of the afterlife.

Or maybe her eternity would be being haunted by thoughts of Ino and the scent of flowers.

"Sakura!"

_Shishou-!_

Under the gravity of her unconsciousness, her eyes fastened against the stark light that blinded her. Instantly, her body began to retch and dry heave against the hoarseness of her throat —- she was so  _thirsty._  It felt like a million needles had been plucked into her skin, her body burned with the aggressiveness of her hacking. Her mouth soured and a bin was put beneath her to catch her vomit — she threw up the liquefied contents in her stomach that they must have been feeding her through a tube.

"Breathe, Sakura."

The even voice of her shishou did little to settle her — in the obscurity of darkness she could  _feel_  what had happened before she fell unconscious , but now the frontal attack of her memories assaulted her senses — the bodies, the bombs, the screams — _what_  had happened?

A steady hand rested itself on her shoulder, wildly she flung it away — until she came face to face with the softened eyes of her sensei.

"Sakura," her name pooled at the edges of his lips, and by memory she could trace with her eyes the edges of his mouth — and the small mole on the left side of his chin. His penetrating gaze held her, and the reality of her surroundings dulled her only to be replaced by a raging headache that forced her to lay back on the bed.

The world spun around her, tilting itself and throwing off her equilibrium — she was going to be sick again.

"She needs to rest more, her body hasn't fully recovered yet."

The duel image of her shishou danced in her peripherals.

"I thought you were able to create an antidote?" Kakashi questioned the Hokage — Sakura desperately wanted to move, but her body refused to work with her.

"I did," Tsunade warranted a sizable glint in his direction, but kept her eyes speculative over her apprentice's pale body, her skin seemed even more translucent due to her relapse the night before. For a sick moment Tsunade had thought that she would lose her apprentice — no amount of medical training and status as a revered medic would have kept her alive had it not been for the hours of pumping chakra into her system in an attempt to find the last remnants of the poison in her bloodstream.

"—She would be dead otherwise."

Sakura blinked back the fog in her vision — slowly, her body calmed from the intrusion of memory and blanket of sickness that plagued her. The voices sounded distant, like they were speaking through a microphone in the other room. For a brief second clarity broke through and she could see the concerned faces of her shishou and Shizune-san — but at the forefront in her line of sight her sensei kept himself by her bedside.

"S-sensei?" her voice cracked.

He crinkled his visible eye, a warmth spread throughout his body that eased the tension in his shoulders. He handed her a glass of water, hungrily she took it and gulped back the substance — but found that her stomach jolted unhappily to the intrusive liquid.

"Sakura — do you know where you are?" her shishou grabbed a chart near the end of her bed and read over it carefully.

The dim lit room, accompanied by what she could now see were other cots under a white tarp registered distinctly — behind a few privacy flaps she could see the feet of other patients - had the hospital been bombed as well? "I'm in a medical tent…" the words drifted openly, because for how much she cursed the hospital and people within it after spending most of her days there — she couldn't imagine her place of refuge burned down to ash.

"What happened to the hospital?" she asked hesitantly.

"It still stands, but we're keeping all patients in a secured area in case the Akatsuki decide to attack again," Tsunade enlightened her, Sakura wilted at the reminder — she had so many questions to ask but felt exhausted already.

"Where is…everyone?" the weight of the question pressed down on the occupants within the tent, Kakashi looked beyond her — Tsunade pursed her lips evenly and Shizune glanced away, busying herself with organizing supplies.

"We're not sure — we have rescue teams assigned trying to find civilians and shinobi alike — but you need to rest."

Sakura moved to sit up, she only needed a small reminder as to her duties and obligations to her village — she couldn't continue to  _sleep_  here while her friends and Hokage worked to fix the village. She pulled the thin sheet over her legs, "I have to help," she refused to be a burden any longer.

"Sakura lay down," Kakashi ordered — the stern nature of his voice shook her into near compliance, she hadn't heard that tone from him in so long she was sure she nearly imagined it.

"But—"

"Sakura!" Tusnade barked, "under the Hokage's orders you  _will_  stay here and continue your recovery. I understand your desire to help, and although admirable you're useless to us half-dead. You've been unconscious for the past three days — you were poisoned by an Akatsuki member and I won't let all the hours I've poured into saving your life be wasted just because of your  _compulsive_  behavior."

The words kicked her in the gut.

Too tired to fight, she felt the familiar sensation of her cheeks reddening — vaguely she glanced at her sensei for a minor defense — he  _had_  to understand. With a void stare, she found no reprieve in her sensei, and although a slight amount of guilt consumed Shizune, even she avoided defending Sakura's good intentions and averted her almond eyes from meeting her own.

"Do you understand you nearly died? Fortunately, you did the smart thing and extracted a big portion of the poison before it reached any vital organs — and because of the fact that we could see the coagulation of the blood — it —" Tsunade briefly paused and shook her head, clearly aggravated with herself.

Sakura almost interpreted her frustration as an annoyance with her getting herself poisoned, but with pricked tears and watery eyes, the younger kunoichi could clearly see the relief flood through her shishou's face. "We're lucky you're alive," Tsunade finished shakily.

Of all the punches, knocking her unconscious, brutal training exercises, harsh punishment and days of grueling medical training with little recognition of the things she did correct — Sakura safely assumed herself as more of a bother to the Hokage than anything else, but the  _rare_  instances of proud smiles that let her know their bond was reciprocated - were nothing compared to the relief she expelled now.

"Thank you, shishou — I…I'm sorry — I ran into them on the way to the hospital—"

Tsunade held her hand up to silence her, "we'll gather information later. First, thank me by getting better so you can help us out here. I have to go back into surgery — Shizune will make her rounds hourly to check on you. Kakashi — come to the headquarters in three hours to get a mission assignment."

With a curt nod and quick dismissal of herself, Tsunade turned to leave, blond hair whipping behind her. Sakura could see that their Hokage had a million things bustling through her mind — naively, she didn't want to know what happened for the past few days when she was unconscious, and although she wasn't afraid of death — she was afraid to ask about who had passed — pressingly, she wanted to know about her friends and family, but with one glance towards her sensei — she was insightful enough to understand that her chest would hollow at the news.

Shizune stepped forward to fix her IV, "you gave us a scare, Sakura. Tsunade-sama had to summon Katsuyu to heal hundreds of people within the village….On top of that she spent the first day in here healing you with a specialist team. And last night," she paused to change the IV fluid bag, with a slight shift in her weight and small frown she hastily moved tired fingers, "—there's no use in worrying about the past. At least you're here now," Shizune finished happily — as happy as she could muster under the circumstances.

Sakura's heart softened, "thank you, Shizune-san. I'm sorry to put you through so much trouble." Over the past year, if she wasn't training with Tsunade — Shizune would be in the hospital training her, giving her words of encouragement or gingerly explaining why their master would be in a sour mood with nobody to take it out on but them.

"Just don't do that to us again—" she chided, lips tilted leisurely — "I have to go help out there. The rescue teams are bringing in survivors by the dozen. Don't hesitate to call out, I'll be back in soon." Shizune gave Kakashi a thin-lipped smile and left the room.

Silence barred the flimsy walls around them.

Kakashi had little to say, usually words found him — most that he had little control over, but sitting with his student now who arrived from the doorstep of death had shook the foundation of his nerves. The similarities that Sakura shared with Rin were at times uncanny, but their ghost-tied faces when life slipped away from them would be burned into his memory forever. He had thought for a time that he would overcome death to those he cared about - it's a part of life, he wanted to say. He wanted to believe that the pain would only be minor, that he would become numb to losing people, but watching her slip away dismantled his normalized apathy.

"Kaka-sensei?"

He peered at her petite form tucked beneath the strewn blankets.

"Mmm?" he murmured back, he forced a jovial expression — as if she hadn't teetered on death.

"Don't look at me like that."

This time he opened up his eyes to stare down at her, "what do you mean?"

"Don't look at me like I died already," she chastised him,  _him_  of all people.

Regrets normally held a reserved place in him, he knew he  _could_  have found her sooner. He could have helped her avoid that altercation between the two Akatsuki members, like he  _should_  have saved Obito, like he  _should_  have helped his sensei fight during the Kyuubi's attack, and like he  _should_  have stopped his father before he killed himself.

"You almost did," he stated firmly. Before, he had been content with seeing his team as his soldiers — he even reprimanded Iruka in front of their colleagues for attempting to dismiss their admission into the chuunin exam. Truthfully, he hadn't seen their potential or heart yet, he had only seen their use as incoming shinobi. They had been little less than his ANBU teams — train them, complete missions, go home.

Simple.

"Did I?" she murmured, eyes suddenly downcast towards the white sheets — her mind and body felt full, with an excessive tolerance for pain she could withstand how horrible her body felt, but with each of her movements it felt like her world was still spinning. Intuitively, Sakura knew he was concerned — more concerned than what she would have ever assumed.

"Well — no need to worry now," she said softly, "you can't get rid of me  _yet_."

The joke sounded empty with how broken her voice was.

In an attempt to comfort him, she was flailing to try and get above water.

He didn't respond, but instead looked away from her.

To dodge a conversation about how he felt, because although he had become attached to his student — the familiarity of closing himself off felt like the most viable option. He sighed evenly and offered a small nod in agreement, "…and here I was thinking I'd  _finally_  get some peace reading my book."

Sakura scoffed, much to her character even under the inducement of drugs she rolled her eyes, "I guess nothing will take away your attention from those perverted books."

"Ah — that's not fair to say. They have very thought provoking material."

"Thought provoking? I think you're looking too deep, Kaka-sensei." Sakura couldn't believe the sincerity in his words.

"So that means you've read them," he pointed out.

A sudden, harsh blush colored her abnormally pale features. Like a blanket that covered their unspoken fears and emotions, this conversation served as a distraction.

"Ah-!  _No_ , I would  _never_  read those perverted books. I'd rather be caught dead before that." And like a pendulum, their conversation circled back to the fact that their village was in ruins, Sakura  _did_  in fact almost die, and the whereabouts of the people close to them hung in the air.

Silence clasped the moment between them, Sakura stared at the tent's wall in front of her. What she didn't notice before was a bundle of purple flowers sitting proudly in the corner — were those for her?

Kakashi noticed her intent recognition of the flowers, "Ino brought those in yesterday."

So she had been right, lavender flowers had woken her from the strings of death.

"Is everyone…ok?"

In a fine tune of events, for the first time since he had first seen her leaning seductively over the counter speaking with Kotetsu and Izumo before their mission — Kakashi could hear the childish quiver in her voice, he could hear her hesitancy for wanting to know. Tsunade had wanted to protect her from the truth, but in a rare moment of clucidity he could see the young girl within her. Normally consumed by her brash and nymph-like tendencies that burrowed the naivety and tricked others into seeing her as a young woman — he had forgotten she had never been through something such as this.

"Fortunately, so many of our chuunin and genin teams were dispatched that most of year twelve is ok —- the Hyuuga compound had been compromised and Hinata is in the hospital after coming in contact with the Akatsuki, but Neji and her family were able to evacuate in time. Two dozen ANBU and fifteen jounin were killed…but the civilians took the brunt of the attacks," he paused, and Sakura could see the familiar faces and names running through his mind, "the numbers as of this morning totaled two hundred and seventy."

A horrified gasp left pale lips, she covered her mouth with her hand to solidify the facts and cover her disbelief.

She could see the blond with the disgusting hands laughing, how he gained such sick  _pleasure_  and satisfaction when he detonated the bombs. Sakura wanted to scream, but her ravaged body could do nothing but push the bile back down her throat.

There was more, she could see Kakashi teetering on the edge of telling her.

"What is it…?"

"Your parents are in the hospital, a bomb caught the edges of your street — they had been returning home. They're stabilized, but the street including your home was torn apart — I found them two mornings ago."

A small, indecipherable sound emanated from her chest — tears leaked out of her tear ducts and fell evenly down her cheeks, she kept her mouth covered - relief washed over the wall of fire that had threatened to tear her apart if something had happened to her parents. As an only child, she had suffered from the usual pains of dealing with over-obsessive and obtrusive parenting (mostly from her mom) and at times wished that they would dote their attention elsewhere — but after years of learning of Sasuke and Naruto's pain of living alone without a family, she had come to appreciate them - even going so far as to train with them when she had an off day from her schedule with Tsunade.

Now, however — all she could think about were the familiar faces of her neighbors.

"Thank you so much, sensei."

Weakly, she lifted herself to wrap her arms around him — she felt dizzy and wanted to collapse, but not only had he found her and saved her life — he had saved her parents. The wave of gratitude that filled her sparked a floodgate of emotions that she couldn't contain. She tucked her face into his neck, his scent that had been the last smell comforted her, more than she would have thought.

In the past two weeks she had somehow given herself to him.

The henge had been the catalyst to their night in the cave.

Abruptly, he had infiltrated her life after a long absence.

And in this moment of realizing how fragile they were, how quickly she could lose him — how he had a way of understanding her thoughts, and now saved her world from crumbling — she placed him in a new light of gratitude.

"Thank you," she murmured into his skin, he wrapped his arms around her. Tears dampened the collar of his vest, and she couldn't help but cling onto the arms that had become short of a haven for her in the time they spent together.

Kakashi chose not to respond, but instead kept her close. He felt her body shake, and the empathetic part of him felt inclined to help her — save her from the pain of things like this. But as a seasoned shinobi used to losing more people than he cared to count, and as someone that wanted to see her progress into a powerful kunoichi, he kept himself reserved and simply allowed her the time to gather herself.

Selfishly, he wanted to pull away and distance himself from the past few days of dreading that the Hokage couldn't save his pupil.

He had lost so many people, he didn't want to see Sakura staring at him from his dreams — the coy look playing at her pouty lips with eyes that bore through him curiously. He didn't have much more time to ponder the specifics because another medic-nin walked into the room and was taken back by their close embrace.

The small sniffle from her nose must have triggered an understanding because the shocked look calmed to sympathetic.

"Sakura-san, I need to administer the antidote for you — and you need to get some sleep." The hint was directed at both of them, but the woman held a clipboard stubbornly in her arms. Sakura pulled away from him and wiped the remaining tears on her cheeks to hide the frailty in her demeanor that she normally hid in the presence of her colleagues.

She slinked herself back into bed, Kakashi stood from his seat and placed a hand on top of her head and gave an affectionate rub, "I'll be back — don't run off on us to help, ok?" his visible eye crinkled and it must have been enough to calm her because she bit her lip and nodded obediently, and in her eyes he could see the new pedestal she placed him on.

He left quickly after that.

xox

Kakashi thumbed the book after his confrontation with Sasuke, he flipped through the contents and could feel the weight of the information in the words. He couldn't qualify himself as someone who needed a lot of time to think about things, Shikaku and Shikamaru were prime examples of individuals who took their time in thinking things through, where as Naruto and Obito were reckless idiots that ran into the fire without a second thought.

Sasuke and him were somewhere in the middle.

Which was why when Sasuke decided to wait for the ANBU to  _apprehend_  him — Kakahi had lost sight of what his student was planning. He had freed himself in what looked like a situation where someone had rendered the ANBU stationed at his door unconscious to free Sasuke from the chained seals.

After questioning him about what he meant by mentioning his brother — Sasuke had characteristically remained quiet. The clock had ticked the arrival of the ANBU, the last Uchiha did nothing but allow himself to be captured once more. The chakra seals were slapped onto his wrists — but the whole time Sasuke stared at him, imploring him to attempt and figure out his intentions.

"What happened, Kakashi-senpai?" one of the men with a fox mask asked him after they escorted him from the room.

Kakashi gripped the book tighter, "he confiscated the stolen book on Naruto's whereabouts from this woman and returned it."

A confused silence filled the space in the room, "he…helped?" the ANBU unknowingly assumed.

Truthfully, Kakashi didn't want to admit to something as vital to the village as his student's help during an attack on their village. It would be easier to see that he escaped — because now it left him in a juxtaposition to feel inclined to help him without being confident in his motives.

"He did," Kakashi mulled over the validity of his own words.

Fox mask grabbed the unconscious woman and sealed her chakra before lugging her onto his back to take her to the prison's medical center, "what do you think he's up to?" Fox mask asked.

And here is where Kakashi couldn't answer, normally one to have a solution — even momentarily, he put the book in his pocket and eyed the red-head, "I don't know," he finished solemnly.

Fox mask left with the woman — and although he would have preferred to see the ghost of Kushina than this woman, Kakashi had to remember that she had been lost the night the Kyuubi attacked. It was more plausible to have this woman stalking around the village searching for Naruto's location than the deceased wife of his sensei.

"What are you  _doing_ , Sasuke?"

xox

Kakashi tossed the book onto the table in the makeshift meeting room for the village elders and Tsunade. On a good day, she would be recovering from a tolerable hangover and small beating at the casino — but today their Hokage looked like she had aged fifteen years. He knew she hadn't slept for the duration of the three days, and with the surmountable task of finding survivors and rebuilding the village — sleep would be a delicacy for all of them.

"What is this?" Tsunade sat at the head of the large table, Shizune by her side — and the elders looking like vultures ready to pick the remaining shreds of the Hokage after what happened to the village.

He  _should_  have given this to her right away — but he figured a meeting with his opinion intermixed since it involved Sasuke would run better than the remaining elders that hated the Uchiha in a whole and a dismissive Hokage.

"It's the book detailing the location of Jiraiya and Naruto — as well as their itinerary in the incoming months," he stated to the room — Tsunade snatched the book off of the table and flipped through it — she pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Kakashi.

" _Why_  do  _you_  have this?" she demanded.

"Because it was given to me by  _Sasuke_  — he gave it to me after apprehending the girl that stole it from the Hokage tower," the words planted themselves on the desk in front of the people sitting at the large mahogany table, their eyes peered curiously at the book — after a few stoned seconds their eyes glinted in apprehension for anything involving the Uchiha.

"Sasuke was taken under custody right after the bombing—" and elder interjected before Kakashi silenced his question.

"Yes, and it's on record that I had a confrontation at his hospital room before the ANBU arrived."

Tsunade sucked in an angry breath, teetering on rage and annoyance that this information had been withheld from her — he could see the loose words that would tear through him later for bringing this information in front of the elders without notifying her first.

"And you decided to leave this information out in passing?" Tsunade reeled.

"You were busy with the civilians, Hokage-sama. I figured it would be best to discuss this when we had a board to have a meeting on what happened with me personally."

Tsunade sat back in her chair, her eyes promised a swift punishment as soon as this meeting ended, "you figured? Are _you_ the leader of this village, Hatake?  _I_  should have been told about this immediately. This could have potentially saved lives — you understand that this woman could have passed along the most current destination that Naruto and Jiraiya are at before Sasuke confiscated it from her?" this time she snapped and gripped the table — her temple pulsed and jaw clenched in blatant anger.

This had been a tipping point for her, he assumed.

"Hatake," one of the elder council members cut in, "other than blatantly withholding information from your Hokage, what reason do you have for bringing this information to us?"

"It is on  _record_ ," he repeated firmly, "it isn't law that a shinobi is required to facilitate information to their Hokage unless required to do so after a mission — and in the grand scheme of what we've all been dealing with, I can assume that we would understand this."

The elders grunted in annoyance — Kakashi had always been a thorn in their side for being a stickler to the rules and undermining their commands. Tsunade looked like she wanted to snap him in half — and a part of him really believed she would had it not been for the elders between them.

"Then go on," Tsunade barked, "tell us what happened, Hatake."

"I arrived to his hospital room shortly after the Akatsuki left — there were two unconscious ANBU members at his door and it looked as if he had broken out of his seals—"

An elder member huffed dispassionately, "of course he did."

Kakashi continued, "he must have followed me — or known that I would suspect that he escaped. He entered the room a few minutes after, he held the girl with red hair conscious with him and handed me the book," he could feel the piercing eyes of everyone in the room - the distrust for his student was palpable.

"—I asked him about his intentions with Konoha."

The room bristled unhappily.

"He mentioned his brother, and then rendered the young girl unconscious—"

"What about his brother?" Tsunade asked cautiously, her brows furrowed in an attempt to dissect what Kakashi was possibly alluding to. The mention of Itachi Uchiha to a room of people who had either expected it to happen at some point didn't unsettle them, but their attention was peaked — the scars of what happened in their village walls hadn't disappeared, and with the Akatsuki attack only a few days prior — perceptively, he knew they were expecting repercussions involving Itachi.

"About his life work, does it sound familiar?"

The elders glanced at each other with hardened but curious expressions. One of the men glared at the copy-nin, "aside from eradicating his whole clan and that cursed bloodline, Itachi shouldn't have a bearing on any decisions Uchiha Sasuke makes," he finished.

Kakashi felt a surge of anger swell in his chest, the normally reserved jounin felt inclined to make his opinion on familial bonds known to the prejudicial man, "I think you'd be surprised the effects decisions from family could make—"

"Hatake!" Tsunade stopped his retort, which was probably for the best.

"All that aside, if you're here on a plea bargain for the younger Uchiha — don't get your hopes up. So what if he recovered a book? He still managed to get out of his seals — and his desertion not even two years ago still stands as a crime, we haven't researched his involvement with the Earth Daimyo—"

The list could go on, but Kakashi refused to allow this to fall at his feet, "he confiscated a book from a woman that is presumably tied with the Akatsuki - the  _same_  organization that is currently collecting bijuus and has succeeded in obtaining two already. Naruto is our sole defense of this village against them if they gather anymore — if that book had left the village than this could already be a very different discussion you're all having."

The elders remained planted in their beliefs, but he could see the flicker of recognition in his words, if they feared the Uchiha to the point of hating them — they hated the tailed beasts more.

One of the softer women finally spoke up, "we will need to have Ibiki-san and the interrogation unit gather information from that young woman and Sasuke before we come to a decision of leisure for the Uchiha."

"Hatake, I know you want your team back together — but we cannot grant leniency to someone with unknown motives towards our village," Tsunade interjected, of all of them she would perhaps understand — and it was in her power to grant him a better case if it came to trial.

Kakashi nodded his head, "which is why I wanted to know if anyone held delicate information about his brother?"

Everyone remained quiet, the elders glanced around the room in an attempt to find the answer in someone's eyes — but unfortunately Kakashi could tell that no one had the answer to the riddle that had been presented to him. "I see," he finished with a small sigh, he was going to have to talk to Sasuke himself when he got the chance.

"Hatake, don't expect too much from your former student," the prejudicial man lost the sardonic and undermining shrill to his voice, but a look of sympathy was offered to him. "Yes, granted in the situation of what happened what he did was commendable and helped our village,  _but_  the Uchiha have always been a fickle group and caused problems since the warring era, no member can be fully trusted — he still broke the law and left the village."

Kakashi wanted to dismiss that notion, he understood the gravity of what he was trying to say — but he could see the look of contemplation crossing over Tsunade's features, and  _that_  had been his goal. He looked back at her, and the advice she had given him stood clearly in bold letters —

" _String back together the remaining pieces of your team."_

He would not be able to grant Sasuke mercy, but he could help fight for a better outlook on his student who had allowed himself to be taken back into custody.

"Are you done, Hatake?" Tsunade questioned him, Kakashi nodded and moved to dismiss himself —

"—You're not done here, take a seat."

He took a seat at the end of the table.

"I called you here since it involves Naruto and another issue. We need to formulate a plan that protects Naruto from the Akatsuki — and we need intelligence on that organization before we dictate a plan." She rubbed her temples to calm the raging headache that made a nest behind her eyes.

"Doesn't Jiraiya-san have that settled  _already?"_  one of the elders asked, as if the plan should have been made and settled years ago — Kakashi could taste the word  _incompetent_  parading itself next from the elders' demeanor in regards to Tsunade.

Tsunade breathed evenly in an attempt to calm herself, "yes, he does, but we may need to change that —  _especially_  now that the information may have been compromised." She gave Kakashi a devastatingly angry glare.

"There's a hideout in the west that could be a possibility that's still under the jurisdiction of the village," Kakashi tossed out the idea.

"We don't need him in a hideout — we need him to train to  _control_  the Kyuubi!" a woman hissed at him, apparently fed up with this discussion about his students.

"Before any of that," Tsunade snapped, "we need intel on the Akatsuki first."

"They'll be expecting us," Kakashi could see where Tsunade was mapping out this conversation — it was becoming painfully obvious.

"Yes, which is why I'll be sending you with a hand picked team of your choice," Tsunade finished his assumption correctly.

Kakashi glanced around the room, "is there a reason you needed to assign me this mission in front of a council?" he would have preferred to have left back to the medical tents or spent his time joining a rescue team — he had enough of this stuffy room filled with wrinkled prejudices.

"Don't leave us  _so soon_ , Hatake," an elder quipped sarcastically.

"Due to the situation within the village, I will need you to leave in a few days. I wanted the council present because I've made a decision as the Hokage that I wanted Kakashi to begin representative training once the village is being reconstructed."

The council bristled, their apparent dislike for Kakashi resurfaced, "excuse me?" the annoying man questioned.

The news filtered through him — it processed, but he couldn't imagine why Tsunade would want him to begin training to become the Rokudaime. "Excuse me?" Kakashi repeated incredulously, earning him a glare from the bigot.

Tsunade pressed her clasped hands to her lips and leaned her elbows on the table, "it won't be for a few years, and not until the Akatsuki is eradicated — but it is something I've been debating on for quite some time. I think a suitable candidate would be Hatake Kakashi," she paused to let the statement sink into the council, "he has served this village his whole life — comes from a prestigious clan, and exemplifies the capability of handling the responsibilities of the village. I want the council and Hatake himself to consider this possibility in the emergency that I pass away before another candidate is put forth."

He could understand why she had been pissed about his sudden information — she had been banking on him but he had unknowingly undermined her praise. Kakashi's stoic, lazy bedroom eyes lifted to glance at the reactions of the elders — and he could clearly see they wanted to bring up the subject of his father.

As a shinobi that had been heralded across villages - praised by his peers it had been a shock to everyone when he decided to kill himself.

"We will take it into consideration," the head of the council mumbled unhappily — they would be pressed to find another suitable candidate soon before ever considering him. "But what of Danzo? He is perfectly capable of also leading the village."

Tsunade waved the name off like it were a pestering fly, "Danzo has his hands full with ROOT, there is no denying that Kakashi has dedicated his life to this village and has done more than most of us," she looked pointedly at the elders who each wore a similar frown on their face.

"—Is that all, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi knew that if the conversation continued then comments would be made that he wouldn't be able to take back in the presence of these sacks of skin he couldn't stomach.

Tsunade dismissed him shortly after that, leaving the rest of their affairs to be discussed without his perceptive ear. Kakashi exited the makeshift meeting tent and stepped into the bright light of the mid-day sun. The village still smelt of sulfur and smoke, and he decided that he would be ok with never smelling charcoal again.

"Rokudaime…" it felt heavy even in his mouth, and a large part of him wished that she hadn't told him.

xox

Sakura heard the news in passing.

She had convinced Shizune to let her walk around — each hour she felt herself slowly recovering from the poison. Slumber took her every other hour, and each time she woke up she chugged exuberant amounts of water — by that night she had made it to her parent's cots and dropped down on her knees to hug them.

They couldn't believe she had fought two Akatsuki members herself, and her mother as per usual scolded her for such reckless behavior — not without tears brimming the edges of their similar eyes.

By the next morning and two more administrations of the antidote — she didn't feel like her lungs were about to collapse, in that time Kakashi-sensei had visited her a total of four times — and each time it looked as if something were troubling him. Sakura assumed that it was the conditions outside, what he had to see when recovering bodies and seeing the total number of people lost continue to sky rocket in number.

He remained relatively silent and commended her on her recovery, but she could nearly feel the wall he built to keep her out. For now, she wouldn't question him about his elusive behavior — each time she felt like their bond grew — it took a formidable three steps back.

Instead of dwell, she forced herself to recover so she could begin to help heal — but on one of her trips to the restroom, she overheard two medics briefly speaking.

"Did you hear about Sasuke Uchiha?" one of the nurses murmured, Sakura pressed herself against a wall around the corner —  _something happened to Sasuke-kun?_

In the time here, he had been at the back of the wheel in her thoughts.

"Yes, that he helped fight two Akatsuki members after they broke into the archives? My cousin saw him when she was running towards the evacuation zone — she couldn't believe it!"

_Sasuke…Helped them?_

"Maybe he's changed," the other nurse questioned softly, as if the possibility were  _impossible_  — Sakura didn't like her tone.

"I doubt it. He left poor Sakura-san on that bench when he deserted, you can't just change _that_  quickly," the duo left to continue their duties — but Sakura was left standing with a new round of questions for her sensei that he had been withholding from her.

Sakura lay in her cot with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

It should relieve her to know that Sasuke hadn't decided to leave — but what happened to change him in such a short amount of time? He had specifically told her that he would be leaving, that she shouldn't concern herself with him. It had scared her to think the attack on their village had also been organized to free her teammate, but Kakashi-sensei would have told her if anything had happened to him - wouldn't he? She tracked back to their conversation a few days ago, he had been clear in his determination to leave the village - to the point of threatening to kill her if she did anything to try and stop him.

So  _why_?

The enigma that had become her teammate would never stop confusing her — but if he had helped her village during the time of the attack, then what would her shishou do? What would Kakashi-sensei think? What should she think?

It pained her to doubt the one person she had spent the first half of her life pining over - her absolute faith in him had only ever been wavered a few times, but each time if she  _truly_  tried to reach out to him when he needed someone - he reciprocated his thanks and understanding with small gestures. She had been the only one to know about his curse seal - did he still have it? The path of hatred had stolen her first love from her, and her stomach twisted in intricate knots debating about whether or not Sasuke could be trusted.

Even further, why hadn't Kakashi told her anything?

Sakura didn't appreciate being left in the dark — Kakashi entered the room as if on cue with her simmering anger.

She shot up in bed and glared at him, "why didn't you tell me?"

Kakashi's shoulders visibly drooped, "it's a pleasure to see you too, Sakura."

Sakura swung her legs over the bed, "why didn't you tell me that Sasuke-kun helped fight the Akatsuki?"

Kakashi sat himself down on the chair by her side, "he did, did he?"

A brazen blush covered her cheeks for her premature accusations, "you didn't know?"

"It's news to me," Kakashi responded, agitation present in his voice.

"I thought that—"

"You thought I was keeping things from you?" he finished for her, his nerves were grating on him. He didn't feel particularly inclined to serve her mood swings today, especially broad assumptions — although she wasn't  _that_ wrong.

"N-no-"

He waved off her sentiment and dropped a bag on her bed, "I wouldn't keep things from you, Sakura. And if I did, it would only be for your welfare."

Sakura furrowed her brows, "I would still want you to tell me. I'm not a kid anymore, sensei."

Perhaps it was the way the words rolled off her lips, or her famous ability to say the things that he didn't want to hear, but he felt like leaving already. He stood up to leave, "I think I'm gonna—"

She gripped his sleeve to tug him back towards her, "why are you treating me like this?"

He glanced down at the area where she delicately held onto his sleeve, he had to wonder how someone that could look so petite and fragile could punch holes into mountains with the same hands. "Is this really a time to be concerning ourselves with this?" he glanced outside of the flap to make sure no one would be passing by and see them like this, soon they would be releasing Sakura from the hospital — but the image of her lying there on the same bed half-alive coiled his stomach.

The words bit at her, because she brought back her hand to her chest as if he had burned her, "I don't think now is the time for us to be fighting, Sakura."

She glanced down at the white sheets tangled between her legs, "why?"

Kakashi sat back down, "because I'll be leaving on a mission tonight."

He could visibly see her drop, and as intelligent as she was it didn't take long for he to figure out the details of mentioned mission, "you can't—- they barely attacked us. Tsunade-shishou can't send you off by yourself!"

Kakashi smiled briefly at her, the concern she displayed for those she cared about would always be a highlighting feature of her personality he would appreciate, "I won't be going alone — but I don't know how long I'll be away."

He could see the scorn on her face, the dismantling of their situation, of what she felt and how she couldn't reach him.

"I'll be ok, Sakura — Why are you worrying?"

A fact of their life would be risking yourself on missions such as this, and although e couldn't tell her the intimate details —

"I'll go with you," she cut in resolutely. She perked herself up and sat straighter, training her eyes on him, "I'll be ok to go! You need a good healer, anyway — I've been here for almost five days, Shizune even said I would be released soon—"

"No."

With no room to protest, Sakura looked at him as if he had betrayed her. "B-but why?" he could feel her annoyance with him swell in her dangerously, but he refused to see her die because he selfishly wanted to bring her with him on a high risk mission he may or may not return from.

"You're still recovering, and I need a specific team. A healer won't be necessary."

"Sensei, you're a bad liar — you know that?"

They both knew a medic benefit any team, even a reconnaissance team. He had assembled Shikamaru, Asuma, Yugao, and himself — it wasn't fair to his student to dismiss her so blatantly, but he had never been ordained as a fair person to begin with.

"Am I?" he motioned to the bag, "I brought you some anko dumplings, try not to eat those all at once."

"Are these an attempt to make me feel better even though you're going on a mission that may kill you?" she stared emptily into the brown bag, eyes downcast with a hoard of emotions. She didn't want to lose him, she displayed this fear clear across her face.

"I've been on worse missions. You don't have to worry about me," he consoled.

"But I do anyways," she whispered softly, her hair slipped down her shoulders, the normally obtuse pink had faded to a light pastel in contrast with the white robe she wore. In what could possibly have been his first initiation of affection since she had woken up from the initial poisoning, he pulled her into his lap.

The lightest sound escaped at the sudden movement until he silenced her with a chaste kiss.

Feathered and delicate, the first kiss between them that wasn't filled with lust.

Soft.

Hesitant.

The intimacy of their embrace - it filled her chest with want.

She peeled down his mask and they connected once more, her body shivered form the simple gesture that held more meaning than the time they spent in the cave, the kiss spoke of an underlying  _goodbye,_  and Sakura pressed herself closer to him, and Kakashi rubbed tender circled into the small of her back.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, he felt her erratic heartbeat and calmed her with another kiss, this time on her upper lip — more intimate than he ever allowed himself with a woman, he silenced his conscience, because although he had his own fears with losing her — he didn't want to find himself bleeding out on a field having this regret.

Tears brimmed on the edges of her eyes, a dust of pink cropped on her cheeks and she leaned upward to kiss him once more on his cheek and wrapped her arms around him. "Promise me you'll come back?"

The insecurity of the ones she loved leaving her surfaced, Sasuke — Naruto, and Kakashi-sensei until he had opened a new door for her.

He laughed softly, breaking the spell of their moment, "if I promise, promise not to send Naruto after me?"

That comment earned him a hard jab to the ribs.

xox

A week later, Sakura had dismantled the bonds of the poison and understood on an intricate level how the poison had worked itself into her body. She studied the clever antidote that her shishou had created in the time given and the supplies available - truthfully, it was so complex it's a wonder that she survived at all. If it had been any other medic attempting to save her, then Sakura was positive she may not have lived. However - if the situation occurred where she would need to save someone from an unknown poisoning, she was sure she could handle it - she would no longer be a victim. In the time she spent without Kakashi's visits and being bed ridden, she used it to study and be productive. Ino visited her a few times, and even her best rival had the same glossed-over look in the aftermath of what happened to their village.

In another day she would be released, but Shizune granted her permission in the meantime to leave the medical area to walk around — around the corner she saw her shishou sitting on a bench next to Shizune that made her stop in her steps as if she were trespassing on something she shouldn't see — the bright light of her village felt like it was blinding her after being in the dim-lit medical tent for a week.

First and foremost, the area around the medical tents had been cleaned up, but in the distance she could see how ravaged her village was.

It broke her — she had been holed up inside being while everyone else struggled to help rebuild their village.

Tomorrow would be a new day, and she would work herself into the ground.

"Sakura," the intimidating voice of Tsunade brought her closer.

"Yes, Tsunade-shishou?" she walked up to the duo, she hadn't seen her master cry before — and although there were a lack of tears, her eyes were swollen and incredibly red.

"I think I should tell you myself before anyone else does."

"W-what?"

"Jiraiya sent a message — him and Naruto were attacked."

Her world spun uneasily.

"Jiraiya...may be dead by now," Sakura braced herself for the news, "…and Naruto's location is unknown."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone that has left a kudos!
> 
> And to the kind reviewers last chapter -- thank you, your words really helped and inspired me. 
> 
> If you enjoy this story, let me know what you're thinking -- what you're excited for, anything. It takes a few seconds but serves as a huge motivation for us authors!


	7. Unhinged

xoxox

"What do you mean I won't be going on the retrieval mission?"

The heavy tone of the room fueled the young kunoichi's anger, the possibility of _not_ saving her best friend hadn't been an option. Whether or not it would be saving, he was out there alone and she couldn't stomach the thought that the knuckle head could be…gone.

"You heard me, I need capable medics here in the village — not on a wild goose chase."

"Wild goose chase?!" Sakura implored, "that's _Naruto_! He's my _teammate_ , not just someone that I hardly know!" the strain in her voice rung closer to a whine — and she hated sounding like a petulant child that wasn't getting their way, but she refused to back down.

"Sakura, do you understand that the Akatsuki were the ones that attacked him? The same group that almost killed you last week and destroyed half of our village," Tsunade tried to reason — if not by logic than by fear.

Unfortunately for her, Sakura didn't fear death — not at the cost of saving those she loved.

"Which is a perfect reason why I should be out there trying to find him!" Sakura clenched her fists — the leather gloves she had lost during her fight with the two Akatsuki members had been replaced lovingly by the shopkeeper that had ran away from her fight and commended the bravery she displayed — although kind words, they only reminded her of the long road she had ahead of her.

"Are you a tracker?" Tsunade reprimanded, "and do you think you have the capabilities to handle a situation where Naruto might already be apprehended by the Akatsuki?"

Sakura's chest clenched, it hurt to think of the possibilities that surrounded where Naruto could be and why there hadn't been any news from him — it had been over a year since she had last seen him disappear along the horizon past the village gates while she stood back idly with Kakashi-sensei, but she could still remember the rawness in his fighting.

Could he handle himself against them?

If they extracted the Kyuubi….

It frightened her, and it tore her heart to pieces even thinking about _that_ outcome — but Sakura knew that Naruto would fight until he had nothing left before he let his dream of becoming the Hokage slip out of his fingers.

His determination alone kept her faith that he was somewhere safe.

"I don't, but I'm not going to stay here in the village while Naruto is out there. I _do_ have the capabilities of saving his life if I needed to — and that should be enough to put me on the team to go after him," Sakura explained simply — and her words must have temporarily changed her Hokage's judgment because a look of understanding crossed her shishou's face — only to be replaced by the firm lines of her brow creasing in annoyance.

"No. — Our tents are filled with patients, Sakura. Your duty is _here_ — and I'm not going to argue with you any longer about it, I have already assembled a team to find and bring Naruto back—"

"Shishou-! I _have_ to go. He's my _friend_! And not just anybody, my _teammate_! I can't live with myself knowing I'm staying here when he could be in a ditch somewhere!" she nearly yelled, the ferocity of her words made her nose burn and eyes water, it scared her to think that she could be out there saving his life — like he had done countless times for her, and even made the ultimate promise of bringing Sasuke back because of her negligence — and she couldn't even go save him when he needed her?

" _No_ , and that's final."

Sakura bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything else, she would go anyway.

Kakashi's firm words ghosted themselves in front of her — _those who abandon their friends are worse than scum._

The pink-haired medic remained eerily quiet, and her shishou must have caught onto this when she began to walk away without being dismissed.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes dangerously at her apprentice's retreating back, "by my orders you _will_ stay here, and you _will_ work saving the people that are _here_ in our village — if you leave in the night and I find out that you're missing — which I _will_ , — don't doubt the fact that I will register you as a missing-nin and your name will be put into the bingo book by morning, understood?"

Sakura froze and wrenched herself around to stare at her shishou in disbelief.

In the past two days two of the people she admired the most had forbidden her from aiding them — she wanted to point to the fact that it was a lack of skill that was forcing them to forbid her from helping, but she had to try and look at the bigger context of the situation.

Tsunade kept a level face, Sakura didn't understand why she was being so severe — how could she try and prevent her from helping her friend? It hurt, and the same dismissal that her sensei had given the day before echoed around her.

Half of her — the rebellious side that still sprouted on rare occasions when she really couldn't make a decision told her to go anyway — she would find him even if she had no clue as to where his last location was. The other logical side of her that became a voice of reason told her to stay here — they would find him and bring him back, she would explain to Naruto why Tsunade wouldn't let her go, he would understand.

Wouldn't he?

Betray her village to save her friend.

An ultimatum.

A third side of her spoke up — it warranted a reason _why_ they wouldn't want her to go. They were both powerful shinobi and respected across the countries for a reason — while she could only claim that people recognized her for her hair color — and then mocked her for it.

Filled with doubt, she left the meeting room to head back to the medical tents and find Shizune for assignment. On her way, she passed by the leveled buildings that had been struck the hardest during the bombing, familiar buildings and shops that she frequented throughout her life — gone. The people — gone.

The times when her mother had dragged her to the shopping district had always been unpleasant, but ever since she had started working at the hospital and training with Tsunade — she found herself getting lost in the streets and buying from familiar faces.

Some of these shops and buildings had been around since the construction of the village — she glanced sadly towards the Hokage monument — despair wasn't an accurate word to describe the hollowness she felt in her heart. Counting herself lucky, Sakura mulled over her decision.

No wonder Ino had that forlorn look on her face when she visited her, after only a day Sakura felt like crumbling just by walking through the pummeled streets. What would Naruto have done during the attack? She couldn't shake the resentment she felt towards her shishou, but she couldn't just _stay_ here.

They had lost Sasuke once — now her best friend and Sensei were _out_ of the safety of their village while — ironically — Sasuke sat in a jail cell _in_ the village. She sighed diminutively, the trek to the medical tents took only a few minutes — but by the time she arrived she could hear the groans of pain and hushed discussions amongst the nurses and medics.

"Sakura-san!" one of the nurses ran up to her with a clipboard pressed to her chest, "Shizune-san wanted me to tell you that you would be helping the surgical team today — we've been managing well enough with our rounds, but Yumo-san just fainted and he was in the middle of a procedure on a patient," the woman huffed in one breathe — clearly fatigued herself.

Sakura glanced around the filled tent that seemed to stretch for a mile, patients filled the cots — they had to resort and put some of the mildly wounded on the floor — and there were multiple tents dedicated to the severity of patients. Every medic in the premise shared the large bags under their eyes and clear fatigue from working night and day to help the wounded since the time of the attack.

With even less workers than before, Sakura understood why Tsunade needed her here.

Not because of her lack of skill.

But because of her growing capabilities that were needed here.

Naruto would have to understand.

"Of course," Sakura nodded and followed the nurse to the surgical tent — curious eyes glanced at her as she walked by, she grabbed a spare doctor's coat from one of the racks in the back of the tent and shrugged it onto her shoulders.

She entered the sectioned off surgical area — Naruto would understand.

xoxox

Kakashi never liked to think metaphorically, and if he _did_ — he did it at the expense of annoying others. Usually as a method to deflect from his own arbitrary actions — and most of the time he normally had Icha Icha held comfortably in his hand when he did, so it fit in context of what he was doing.

However, this time — he did not have Icha Icha in his hand, nor was he doing it at the expense of others, unfortunately.

"I hate to state the _obvious_ — but it looks like we're stuck between a rock and a hard place," he said simply.

Literally.

Three heads turned to him incredulously, one being Yugao who looked as if she could rip his head off for such a contrived statement while Shikaku and Shikamaru looked at him like he was missing his head — which in the position they were in could be a possibility.

"I _can't_ believe you!" Yugao hissed at him, she probably wished she hadn't accepted his offer to come on this mission — truthfully, he wished he had stayed in the village. Or alternatively, at least have his pink-haired student hissing obscurities at him — at least _her_ threats to disembowel him were empty.

"I don't think this is the time to speak so freely, Kakashi," Shikaku ground out evenly, the normally cool man never seemed to get openly frustrated, but to be honest — Kakashi hadn't expected this outcome either.

Voices in the distance alerted them of the trio that would be returning to their campsite and a hushed silence washed over their tense conversation.

They had located Hoshigaki Kisame and Hidan, who had met up with Kakuzu — Kakashi clearly remembered their faces from their battle — the Akatsuki members had momentarily left their makeshift campsite thrust deeply in the harsh terrain of Earth country. The chase after Kisame had led them far past the outposts in the uneven and barren mountain sides that made the winters of Konoha seem tame.

What they hadn't expected was for them to return so suddenly, and Kakashi's quick thinking had forced them into a small enclosure barely a foot and some change in width, but the split in the mountain allowed all four of them to squeeze vertically in between the grated rock — and they had been stuck like this for hours.

Unable to move — unable to speak without alerting the people they were supposed to be gathering information from, and they refused to move. For the mission — their _literal_ tight spot worked quite favorably, but even his legs were beginning to burn since he had to hold himself up to make room for the others to fit.

He could tell the others wanted to burn him alive for this impractical spot — but Kakashi had been taking the conversations of the Akatsuki and mentally jotting down the important information. As seasoned shinobi individually, the three men all knew not to speak about important business delegated to their missions involving the Aakatsuki — but nothing had been spoken that could help Konoha.

"Shut the fuck up, Kakuzu!" Hidan blanched in the distance.

By this time, Kakashi had counted fifty 'fuck you's' from the one that wielded the large scythe in the past five hours. Normally accompanied by an insult, Kakashi was surprised the other two members hadn't told him something in retaliation.

"Shut up, we need to leave soon to go collect our bounty," a deeper, more baritone voice responded - clearly ignoring the thrown insult.

"Like hell we are, we just traveled two fucking days to meet you here for our meeting with Leader—"

"Since when did you care about our meetings?" Kisame baited Hidan.

"I don't," Hidan fumed, "but I'm not going to collect some useless fucking bounty in the middle of fucking nowhere with that asshole."

"You should care, it looks like Deidara and Sasori may have caught the Kyuubi," Kisame said, the twined elation in his voice made the air go stale around the four Konoha shinobi hidden obscurely in the rocky terrain.

All eyes stared at one another, and it took a lot of self-preservation for Kakashi to remain still. His hand subconsciously twitched, and Shikaku stared at him and numbly shook his head — forbidding him from making a move.

They caught Naruto?

Kakashi couldn't understand how they could have possibly found out about his location, unless that woman had given the coordinates before Sasuke took the book back — and furthermore he doubted Jiraiya would have allowed that to happen to his pupil. But listening to the unknowing men, they wouldn't needlessly lie about something like this.

A mixture of raw anger and anxiety coursed through Kakashi.

If they had Naruto, then by nighttime they would have extracted the Kyuubi from him…He held his breathe to count down from one hundred — methodically, he forced himself to focus on his mission — it could be postulated rumors, the swordsman did say _may._ He couldn't risk their mission for the sake of impulsive behavior — harsh lessons over the years had taught him otherwise.

Shikamaru lowered his head and trained his focus on the rock wall before him — at one point another Naruto had affected a lot of the people around him, and Kakashi would be a vehement liar in denying that becoming Naruto's sensei hadn't brought him out of a dark, apathetic place in his life.

"Oh shit," Hidan broke through with an appreciative whistle, "then that's why Leader summoned us so quickly."

Kakuzu huffed, eternally annoyed with his obtuse partner, "you're a fool — if that had been the case then we would have all been arranged to meet in the River hideout."

The sound of heavy footsteps coming in their direction forced the Konoha shinobi to remain eerily still — halfway expecting that their presence had been noticed — it took a few seconds for them to realize that Kisame had decided to take a leak away from the campsite. Kakashi relaxed the tension in his shoulders — all of them had been ready to spring into action if they had been caught, but there was a reason he chose this team.

Cold and calculated - methodical, even.

He could see the wheels turning in Shikamaru's head — probably along the same idea that Kakashi had. Kakuzu just supplied them with a plethora of information in one sentence, which meant that if they _hadn't_ been summoned to a base in River…than they hadn't captured Naruto yet.

"Oi, Kisame!" Hidan called after him, ignoring Kakuzu's statement, "where the hell is Itachi?"

All ears strained to listen.

Kakashi thought back to his confrontation with Sasuke.

"Who knows, he doesn't tell me anything about his plans — "

"Leader-sama is calling us," Kakuzu cut into their dry conversation.

Kisame sighed and finished before returning back to the duo, and a new silence placated the campsite —

Unyielding silence.

What were they doing?

They waited.

Nothing.

Kakashi motioned towards the break in the wall that he could crawl through, he pointed upwards to it and mouthed that he was going to look. He could see Yugao bristle unhappily with his decision — but after being her captain for years in ANBU she trusted him and remained silent, Shikaku and Shikamaru nodded and shifted slightly to allow him space to inch his way above them.

He reached the top break in the wall and eased himself through. Concealed among the rocks he crept forward until he could oversee them sitting among one another, eyes closed…Were they meditating? Kakashi could clearly see the hum of energy transferring around them..He took a few more steps forward and planted himself around the corner of a boulder.

Their rings glowed…Had they transferred elsewhere? — the only other people that used that hand seal were the Yamanaka clan, which meant that they were using a mind transfer technique.

_They're having a meeting somewhere else…_

Kakashi pieced together the information and clasped onto it. From what he figured — while completing separate missions they met up in an undisclosed area and used this advanced technique to communicate.

Genius.

This organization wasn't a strung together band of mercenaries that had a half-hazard plan. Kakashi eyed the hand seal they were making — they had a formulated, _detailed_ plan. It became a matter of what they were going to do _next_ so Konoha could intercept.

The attack on their village would not be taken lightly, he had little idea of what Tsunade had planned in retaliation — but they needed key pieces of information before they would succeed.

So he waited.

Nearly twenty minutes passed before Kisame opened his eyes, Kakashi kept himself obstructed behind the rocks, the Kirigakure swordsman shifted samehada next to him and stretched his shoulder blades, "looks like we won't be needing to go to River, ne?"

Kakuzu crossed his arms in front of him, "good — we still need to collect that bounty and it may take a few days."

Hidan groaned, "what's the fucking point of sending them if they can't even fucking catch a stupid kid?"

A shallow breathe that Kakashi had been holding released — the ease of anxiety that had crept on him momentarily dissipated — Naruto was alive, even better — he hadn't been captured yet. The Akatsuki were accelerating the rate in which they were trying to capture the jinchuriki, he could only wonder what would happen if they managed to capture all of them.

Kisame chuckled, a small grin revealed razor sharp teeth — "I'm not surprised. Deidara is too reckless and that kid _is_ pretty headstrong."

"Headstrong?" Hidan questioned, "you met him before?"

"Once," Kisame responded, "Itachi and I confronted them and the white-haired Sannin a while back — the kid is uncontrollable."

Kakuzu thwarted himself from the conversation — obviously agitated they were still talking about the mundane and _not_ preparing themselves to leave.

"No shit," Hidan shifted his scythe in front of him, "then that just leaves what? Four bijuus left? Including that kid?"

Kisame grunted in agreement, slowly lifting himself up and stretching his legs, "well I'll leave you guys to it, then. — I have to meet up with Itachi."

"So you **do** know where he is," Kakuzu's deep voice permeated the space in between the three Akatsuki members.

"Bold of him to miss a fucking meeting," Hidan narrowly agreed with Kakuzu's assessment.

Kisame shrugged his shoulders, "he isn't my responsibility. I'll be meeting up with him and then the rest of you in Amegakure in a few days," he finished, deflecting any knowledge of his partner's whereabouts.

_Bingo._

Hidan scoffed in retaliation, "tch, whatever. That fucker thinks he's better than everyone, anyway."

"Hurry up, Hidan — we only have a few hours left," Kakuzu's voice strained to maintain control of his anger, hurrying his partner for the benefit of collecting a hefty rewards for the merchant they were supposed to capture.

"Calm the fuck down, I'm coming!" Hidan snapped at him.

The three men kicked out the fire and began to leave the campsite. Obviously, they didn't care if anyone followed their tracks — nothing was roaming through this forest that was more threatening than three S-class shinobi who were famous throughout the country and even more notorious in the bingo book.

Their voices began to fade into the distance — lost in the rock that surrounded the area and further along down the mountainside until they disappeared completely.

Kakashi crept back to the crevice where his team was still waiting for his direction — he glanced down at their expectant faces and motioned for them to get out, "looks like we found what we needed."

Now the real question of what happens _next_ worried Kakashi.

xoxox

The last four hours had been hell, and that would be a _mild_ statement — if Sakura had a choice in the matter.

Four hours of intense surgery could numb the mind — and she loved the feeling of getting lost — fixing someone, because by her nature she wanted to help people, saving her friends or patients, it became knitted into the fabric of her character.

What she didn't expect, but had slowly adjusted to was the fact that no matter how hard she tried, no matter how much _training_ she put in, or how many books she studied into the long hours of the night — you couldn't save everyone.

The surgery was supposed to be simple — an amputation of an infected foot. Sakura had done this surgery before, but upon further inspection she had noticed that the infection had already spread further into the man's body. Furthermore, the pain medication that had been administered to him earlier that morning by one of the nurses had caused an allergic reaction that halted the surgery.

They had stopped the allergic reaction with an antihistamine, but the stalled surgery only further perpetuated the infection into the man's lungs. Sakura would have asked Tsunade or Shizune for advice on what to do — but all bodies were currently preoccupied. Did she want to risk doing the surgery when his body was already weak — or let the infection continue to foster?

One of her first executive decisions had been to continue with the surgery and get him on a different antibiotic to treat the infection in the meantime.

Well.

The antihistamine from earlier that morning had thinned his blood — and during his surgery no amount of cauterizing his blood vessels had helped. To stop the bleeding she had to spend another hour carefully using a higher density chakra needle to stop the bleeding — at the expense of wasting some of her own chakra.

The next problem arrived when they began to lose him.

He had lost too much blood in such a short period of time.

By raw determination, they were able to do a blood transfusion which took another hour.

After that, he had been stabilized well enough for her to finish the amputation and send him off to recovery —or so she thought—- when his fever and heart heart skyrocketed shortly after — her first thought had been that he had another allergic reaction to the anti-biotics, but his body was rejecting the blood.

Sakura used her last hour with him to keep him alive while the nurses and another doctor worked feverishly to supply him with enough blood — but she had been pressing on his chest when his shaking body began to stop.

They lost him.

To kidney failure due to his immune system rejecting the blood.

Sakura left the room once he was gone to bite her lip and hold back tears.

The frustration of wanting to keep him alive and everything going terribly wrong.

As a medic, as an empathetic person— she _hated_ losing patients.

One of the nurses came out of the surgery room and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Would you like for me to tell his wife, Sakura-san?"

Sakura didn't want to ever know the pain of losing the people she truly cared about — and it wouldn't be right for anyone other than her to explain to his wife what happened — it was her fault.

The face Sakura wore before when she walked into the waiting area outside of the tent notified the wife immediately because she started weeping nearly on site. Sakura caught the woman from collapsing and couldn't do anything but slowly explain what went wrong during his procedure.

Worst five hours of her life.

Sakura had taken a break after that — and let a few tears fall out of frustration and guilt.

Shizune walked up to her and pulled her into a soft hug unexpectedly, away from the other nurses and doctors in an unused tent.

"It's ok," she murmured, "one of the nurses told me what happened. You did the best that you could have done in that situation."

She nodded her head numbly, so much had happened in the past week alone and still not knowing where Naruto was killed her inside. Kakashi being here would have made things marginally better, but she didn't even know where he was right now either. To add this on top of it, being disclosed in the dark and simply not _knowing_ about the people she truly cared about was taking it's toll on her.

"It's horrible losing patients, and it doesn't get any easier — but I don't think Tsunade-sama or I could have done any better."

Sakura pulled away and straightened her shoulders, "thank you, Shizune-san. That means a lot coming from you," she said softly.

Shizune offered a sympathetic smile, "you should really be proud of yourself. You haven't stopped and this is really your first time working individually as a medic. Why don't you go take a break and get some sleep and come back later tonight?"

She didn't want to stop.

The pink haired kunoichi steadied herself, "no, it's ok. I've already taken too much time off, I'll be good to go in a few minutes."

A flap opened up the tent to reveal Genma standing there, "hate to interrupt you ladies but I need to escort Sakura-chan to the prison."

A curious and confused look must have crossed her face because Genma felt inclined to explain, "Sasuke has requested to see you."

For a terrifying moment her stomach dropped.

Why would he be requesting to speak with her?

The time she had spent with him last had left a clear impression on her that he wanted absolutely _nothing_ to do with her. Even more, she didn't have time to think of his imprisonment after hearing about what happened to Naruto and focusing all of her energy in the medical unit. As of now, Sasuke was the least of her worries — he was safe and in the village, she had other things harboring her attention.

Stupidly, she asked, "why?"

Genma gave a careless shrug, senbon hanging lazily out of his mouth, "didn't say —but he's now allowed strict visitation rights pre-approved by the Hokage, so I figure you're one of the few people he's permitted to speak with."

She gave a hesitant glance at Shizune, who in turn nodded her consent, "go ahead — and after take a little time off to get some sleep, please."

She mildly agreed to the terms and docked her doctor's coat on a hanger before leaving with Genma, heart palpitating wildly in her chest.

xoxox  
  


She arrived to the prison taking brisk steps — the closer she got, the more her heart felt like it might explode. Genma dropped her off at the front with two prison guards and wished her good luck. She would have reciprocated with a dry comment but she was exhausted mentally and physically, and the last thing she had expected was a request from the one person that confused the inner workings of her head.

Sakura stepped aside to allow the prison guards open the array of intricate security doors that she had lost track of in their descent further into the belly of the prison— truthfully, she had never been to the prison except to drop off files at the reception desk, but the calls from the inmates were more daunting than she would have imagined.

"He's in a maximum security cell," one of the guards leading her explained, "there will be two ANBU stationed outside of the room, but he's completely chained — unless the guy is a wizard he won't be able to harm ya."

_You'd be surprised…_

He had probably asked for Kakashi-sensei first, but seeing that he is out on a mission she was the next best bet for someone to speak with. Not that she minded, he made it clear he didn't want her interfering with his life…But then why did he help their village during the attack?

What did she expect?

She could safely assume that the only reason she was being allowed to visit him was because he helped fight the Akatsuki when they arrived — otherwise she was sure that when the time came, he would get an unfair trial.

She would need to thank her shishou, or whoever made it possible for her teammate to get a small sense of justice.

They arrived to steel doors that had two ANBU standing guard in front of it, rat and bird mask in place. They stepped aside to allow her through, the other two prison guards warned her and gave her the usual … ' _if anything happens, just yell. Don't say anything about the village, etc.'_

Slowly, she entered the room to witness a sight that made her heart bleed in sympathy.

They had him chained to the wall, seals marked over his hands and chains — chakra markers that effectively nulled his ability to use chakra. Handcuffed to boot, what killed her was that they kept him blindfolded — a seal imprinted firmly over his eyes, stopping his use of the sharingan.

Were they really this _afraid_ of him?

"Sakura," he initiated, which threw off her strong demeanor.

She wasn't prepared for this.

Fortunately, he couldn't see the way her hands were shaking — or the nervousness in her legs.

"You wanted to speak with me…Sasuke-kun?"

She forced herself to sit down on a brick bench connected to the opposite side of the wall, but her leg wouldn't stop moving.

"Why are you nervous?" the question slipped out of his lips undiluted, so easily that she immediately stopped her leg from twitching.

_Shoot-!_

How did he notice these types of things while not being able to see her?

"I..I just guess I didn't expect you to call for me, is all…" she remedied, because it was the truth. Of all people, she had expected that she would be the last on his list.

He didn't say anything in response — _this_ was the Sasuke she was accustomed to. Few words, even less explanation, leaving her to fumble awkwardly to try and talk to him with whatever she wanted to speak about while he remained silent.

"Where's Kakashi?" Sasuke asked her — so she _had_ been his second pick.

Of course.

"He's on a mission, Tsunade-shishou sent him a few days ago," her voice quivered minimally, still unsure of where her sensei was — or if him and his team had been caught.

Silence placated the stark room of his cell, he kept his face straight — giving her a view of the lower half of his face because of his blindfold, it pained her to see him like this, and it hurt to think that he would stay like this — covertly kept in the dark until they decided on what to do with him.

"I wanted to thank you," Sasuke began, directly initiating her heart to thrum unsteadily.

"F..For what?"

"You helped me in the forest, and I never said thank you," he said, his words were matter-of-fact, and like usual they lacked the aliveness that he once had — the sheer determination that he once held steadfast seemed to be missing.

She gripped the hem of her paneled skirt, pushing her nerves away from the situation, "sure you did," she murmured.

Why was he bringing this up now?

He gave the smallest hint of a frown, obviously confused with what she meant — but she remembered the words clearly because they still haunted her and drove her to become better.

"The night you left…You said thank you to me."

_"_ _He left her unconscious on the bench…"_

The words of the nurses flitted through her uneasily, because although she could still _feel_ the shallow breathe of his that tickled the back of her neck, and the weight of his words that touched a place deep within her, she didn't remember him holding her or putting her on the bench — she just remembered that next morning someone woke her up and she had tear stains on her cheeks.

Just the words and his presence remained with her.

"I know," he said, "but I was thanking you for something else when I left."

Her chest squeezed — the room felt immeasurably warm.

"You remember?" she gasped — for whatever odd reason, she had thought that having bothered him that night and trying to convince him to stay, he would have simply forgotten. That moment remained important to her and a turning point in her life, immeasurable in terms of how it affected her. Avenging his family and getting stronger had been his priority — not her.

"Why are you bringing this up now, Sasuke-kun?" the question left her before she could assess why she would ask him.

But years of trying to understand him forced her to this uncertain point.

It seemed odd for him to thank her now…He offered her an explanation the week prior. He mentioned the bonds of the past, but she didn't understand what he meant…But now, he was thanking her for something else?

"I've decided to help Konoha, for now — and I wanted you to know."

Just the other week he was vehement on leaving — and now he wanted to help them?

Her forehead creased in agitation, he never made any sense.

"You told me the other week that you would _kill_ me if I tried and stopped you, I'm not dumb enough to think that you of all people would have a sudden change of heart in a span of a couple of days, Sasuke-kun."

"There's things you don't understand, and I can't explain it to you," he stated firmly, but the small frown and shift in his voice warranted her to _want_ to believe him.

"I always ask you to help me understand, because I _want_ to help you Sasuke-kun. I've _always_ wanted to help you, but you never give me the time of day to understand you," she remained stubborn, too exhausted and tired to try and plead with him — this time he would need to try if he wanted her help.

"Why do you try so hard for me?" he asked her, the question was simple — but her words got caught in the back of her throat.

Before…It had been simple, she would have poured out her love for him and expect him to catch it. She would have cried, because she loved him with her _entire_ being at one point — she would have gone to the ends of the Earth if he had asked her to.

The gentle hug and kiss her sensei gave her before he left drew her attention away from the question.

Until.

"Because I care about you," she said, "have you not realized that yet?"

"You and Naruto are the same," Sasuke said, turning his head to the side to reveal the pale side of his neck. Instantly, her eyes tore to the spot that she had seen Orochimaru bite him in the forest, forever changing their paths in a moment that catapulted the very dynamic of their team.

Except the curse mark was gone.

The mark had been replaced by the smooth, pale skin of his neck.

"How are we the same?"

_Please help me understand, Sasuke-kun._

"You guys never know when to quit."

The words stung, but she felt herself swell in annoyance.

"Better than leaving your teammates, and nearly killing Naruto," she shot at him, her words tasted vile, but she refused to let him demean her and Naruto for wanting to save him.

"I didn't ask you two to help me, I told you from the beginning that I had my own path…That I'm an avenger."

She clearly remembered the first day during the bell test, when he opened up to her.

Sakura kept her voice low, she knew that Sasuke hadn't told them about his brother yet, and she also knew they were keeping a clever ear in on their conversation.

"Then what are you _now_?"

His body went rigid, if only momentarily — he must not have expected her to say that.

But what was he?

If he had killed his brother, then what was left for him?

Is that why he was helping?

He didn't say anything.

And for a brief moment — she saw the young boy that she had first seen in the academy eating tomato onigiri, before the massacre had occurred. When he would fight Naruto in designated spars — and she would watch helplessly as Naruto spewed words at him and Sasuke turned his back on him. The same boy that would walk home by himself, and on one occasion she had seen his brother meet him halfway to the compound when she had been walking home…And the look of endearment that lit up his face.

Like when he had been sleeping, an innocence softened the clench of his jaw, his shoulders dropped, and he kept himself inverted and his head hung.

He looked… _Tired_.

"Naruto is missing," she decided to interject, because at least _someone_ that had been in the premise of their lives needed to know this beside her.

Sasuke remained stoic, if not for the clench in his jaw that returned, "how do you know?"

"Tsunade-shishou told me," she sighed softly.

"You didn't get put on the retrieval team?"

He sounded surprised.

At least _someone_ believed in her abilities around here.

"No, the Hokage refused when I asked her. If I had left anyway, she would have registered me as a missing-nin," the hurt she still felt due to it made itself present, and she found herself suddenly realizing how she had the habit of always heedlessly telling him things.

Sasuke made a small grunt and kept his voice shallow, "Naruto is still alive, the idiot wouldn't die so easily."

Sasuke still believed in him, and Sakura did too.

The refreshing nature of their conversation unsettled her, and although Sasuke helped confirm her faith in their blond teammate, it still made her stomach churn unhappily at the host of possibilities of what could be going on outside of the walls of their village.

"Why did you help us, Sasuke-kun?" she needed to understand, this three-sixty by her teammate didn't make sense, and for someone that rivaled Naruto in the stubborn department, it still left her uneasy to hear him speak to her like this — so freely, even though ironically he was in chains.

"I told you already, I plan to help Konoha for the time being," his forward statement threw her off, like she was _supposed_ to just understand what was going through his head.

"You said last wee-"

"I said I would be _leaving,_ not harming Konoha — that was your assumption," he shut down her argument and it made her frown in displeasure, if only because he was right.

Sakura frowned and stayed quiet, she wanted all of this to makes sense, but it never did when dealing with him. He was two faces of the same coin — and at any given moment those faces flipped and she had to deal with a new one.

He could be telling her the truth…Or he could be softening her so she can vouch for his innocence, a year ago she would have thrown herself at Tsunade's feet to grant his forgiveness, but a peculiar, speculative eye pressed itself on her.

It also hurt to know that her ultimate faith in him had been shook.

"I'm not asking you for anything, Sakura." The way her name rolled off his tongue had always made her stomach warm, and this time she noticed the small goosebumps that raised on her arms.

She still remained quiet, until the words found her and she hesitantly gathered up enough courage — "I just wish I understood you better, Sasuke-kun."

It looked as if he was about to say something, and her breathe hitched to hear -

One of the ANBU burst into the room, effectively dropping whatever Sasuke was about to tell her, "time's up. — I will escort you out, Sakura-san."

Had that much time gone by already?

She stood up slowly and turned her back on him, he wouldn't say anything — she shouldn't expect much of him, and now she was left with even more uncertainties than before.

She wished her sensei was here…The familiar face that nearly confused her as much as Sasuke did.

"Come back tomorrow."

His voice hooked her, and she reeled herself to look at her chained teammate in mild shock…The first person that had caused feelings that she couldn't accurately explain, the one that had affected her the most…And his words weren't a request, either.

He _wanted_ to see her.

"Okay."

xoxox

That night, she lay on a spare cot in the medical unit - with no home to return to, her parents were staying in the displaced civilian tents - she didn't want to make the crowded area even more crowded and decided to sleep here since she would be waking up in a few hours to make more rounds. Her body felt exhausted, but unconsciousness refused to take her with it.

Her thoughts remained on Naruto - until they drifted to Kakashi, and then reverted back to her conversation with Sasuke.

The three men in her life that caused her more pain and joy on extreme scales.

She touched her lips softly, remembering the chaste kiss her sensei had left her with - and the mountain of emotions that Sasuke dragged from her.

In reality, she wanted her team back.

But Sakura was learning that what she wanted _most_ , the normal days of their team bustling through the village and the _happiness_ that they all shared, may never return.

Sleep refused to take her that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:  
> Finally got this up here!  
> I hope you're all enjoying this story so far -- thank you for such wonderful reviews last chapter! Let's keep it going, it fuels my inspiration for this story.  
> Don't forget to leave a comment or subscription notice if you enjoy this story.  
> (P.S I know by now we're all getting antsy to have some more fluff and smut, but stick with me I promise it'll be worth it!)


	8. Vilified

This would be the fifth visit she made to see him in the past week.

By now the security guard at the front desk buzzed her in with a welcoming smile - as welcoming as she could considering it was a prison. Another sweet prison guard by the name of Hojo walked her to see Sasuke each day and asked her about how all of the civilians were doing and what reconstruction was being done — Sakura had no clue that the prison was so cut off from the rest of the to the fact that it sat at the edge of the village — even further than the Uchiha compound — it was no wonder that they fell into the routine of waking up and heading straight for the barren landscape tucked away in a mountainside.

"I hear that they're going to be considering his trial soon," Hojo mentioned to her briefly on the descent to Sasuke's cell.

"Really?" she questioned, attention fine tuned to understand how the council and her shishou could begin considering what to do with her teammate.

"Yeah, it's surprising considering that there's still so much work to do in the village — you would think they would hold off for a while," he paused to open up another door for her with a specialized seal, "but I mean it has been nearly three weeks since the attack, so I guess things are coming along."

Sakura had also been amazed at how quickly her village was being rebuilt — mostly due to the wood style users who worked tirelessly each day to rebuild the countless buildings that had caught the brunt of the attacks — and although _reconstruction_ may be going fine, the open wound of the hundreds of people lost still burned.

The medical tents were still filled, displaced persons still crowded the makeshift tents across the village. Reconstruction would take months — but _nothing_ would bring back the men, women, and children her village who died that day.

"…Yeah, but I don't think our village will be the same after this," the sideways comment left her before she could grasp onto it — Hojo gave the pink medic a peculiar glance before nodding in agreement.

"Probably not," he said sullenly, the final doors opened for them and the two ANBU gave her the smallest notion of awareness before returning to their stoic positions guarding the doors.

"Alright Sakura-san, you know the drill — you have thirty minutes."

Sakura thanked Hojo and stepped into the room — each time she entered to see him completely tied up and blindfolded - it _hurt_. She thought it would have lessened by now — but it seemed to be getting worse as her sympathy grew for her teammate after each visit.

"How are you doing today, Sasuke-kun?" immediately, she regretted her choice of words — how could _anyone_ really feel being locked in an underground prison cell, completely tied up and left in the dark?

He looked in her direction and gave her a small motion of recognition, "—have you heard anything about Naruto yet?" he dodged her question, she frowned minimally and posed herself to sit in her usual spot across from him.

Sometimes she felt as if he were a skittish animal and any sudden move would trigger him to attack her — the hospital incident may have induced this, but she bit back the feeling and lowered her head, "not yet — I spoke with Tsunade-shishou two days ago and she still hasn't heard anything from the tracking team."

The comfortable nature that she spoke about the Hokage caused him to sit back in his seat, "I wouldn't doubt it if he's almost home already," Sasuke said, still believing in their teammate — the slight edge in his voice made him seem unnerved…which still confused her considering the last time him and Naruto had spoken — they had nearly killed each other.

"Hopefully," she sighed, "Kaka-sensei hasn't returned back either. I never in a million years thought I would be sitting with _you_ here in the village while they're out there…"

"Sorry to disappoint you," he flatlined.

Sakura blushed furiously and shook her head to dismiss the insinuation, "no — ah, that's not what I meant, Sasuke-kun!"

Time froze when the barest, smallest hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his lips — it _almost_ looked as if he could laugh right now — but that might have just been her imagination playing tricks on her. Except, in the situation he was in — and with their world chaotic outside with _no_ hints as to where their friend was, they both returned to the normality of the dark walls of the prison that sucked the temporary illusion of happiness.

"How long have you been training with the Hokage?"

And this was their cycle of conversation.

Oddly, it wasn't _just_ her struggling to pull topics of conversation together so they could continue talking — Sasuke would ask her a question (although she remained wary for anything that could involve the village) she would answer, and that would lead to another abnormally normal thread of conversation. Surprisingly, it felt rather habitual to sit here and speak with him.

He didn't disclose much information on the time he was away, in truth she didn't expect him to open up to her, but their conversations mostly centered around her — and on _rare_ instances he would reveal tidbits of information about himself that would shock her into silence for a few seconds before recovering and mulling the conversation along.

"I think close to a year and a half now?" she answered, "it was really difficult at first — and she's really strict, but I think I needed that type of discipline— it's worked out though because I really enjoy everything that she's taught me...I just wish her or Kakashi-sensei had a little more faith in me for missions —" Sakura paused, unsure if she was rambling.

Sasuke didn't make any motion of agreement, and sometimes she thought he never heard her — "you're a capable medic, it makes sense that she would need you here in the village."

Sakura fidgeted - in awe that he could say something so kind, her body stilled and it felt like the walls were going to start shaking and make her realize this was a dream.

_Did he….Compliment me?_

"Ah—" for once, she didn't know what to say.

In truth, less than a handful of people complimented her directly on her skills as a shinobi— none of them being her sensei, and one of the first being Sasuke on the day of their chunin exam. And like then, it left her boggled to know that he had not only taken an interest in watching her progression, but actually _recognizing_ it and mentioning it to her.

His forward statement wasn't sugar coated — and she always forgot how… _direct_ Sasuke could be.

"T-thanks, Sasuke-kun."

He grunted in response, obviously refusing to speak further on the matter, and in a small moment of misguided judgement, she stood up and walked over to him. He didn't react to her sudden movement, but she couldn't bear seeing him with this stupid blindfold any longer. How could they do this to someone on speculation and assumption? Sakura _knew_ there were reasons for it - but she hated only being allowed to see the lower half of his face.

He wouldn't hurt her.

Shakily, she stepped closer to the Uchiha.

"Do you mind…If it take it off?" the words felt dry in her throat, being this _close_ to the person that they had chased for so long, the person that had ripped a part of her life in half and left her on the bench — and miraculously here he was. A barrage of happy memories that her team shared assaulted her - Sasuke wasn't a criminal. She would put the blindfold back on him before the guards came back in — self assurance peaked, any fear she previously had regarding Sasuke vanished.

He didn't stop her.

Sakura's breathe hitched perceptively.

Was this stupid?

Probably.

Her fingers gently hooked onto the material of the blindfold, her heart pumped erratically in her chest — warning her about the dangers of allowing him the advantage of sight. Slowly, she lifted the veil that obscured his vision, she counted the seconds in her head as the blindfold revealed the onyx eyes of her teammate.

She halfway expected the sharingan to reflect back at her — silencing her into another genjutsu, but the familiar eyes of the boy she had loved for years stared at her, darker than she had remembered seeing them in the hospital. Black, smoldering eyes that held a host of emotion and empathy —- the same eyes that watched her when she tossed and turned in bed, leaving her to wonder about his safety and what he could possibly be doing under the instruction of Orochimaru.

Gently, the tips of her fingers brushed against his temples, her thighs touched his legs - every point of bodily contact felt like an eruption of fire on her skin.

Her fingers lingered at his temples, he blinked back the sudden intrusion of light, but he didn't move away from her delicate touch. Seconds slowed into moments of long, drawn out breaths that tilted the world around them. Instead of retreating, he inched himself noticeably forward, allowing her fingers to gently run through his hair, nearly allowing her to embrace him.

_Why_ was he doing this to her?

_Why_ was he doing this _now_?

The movement alone could have sent her reeling — the innocent touch of their skin frightened her, but she couldn't bring herself to move. The proximity of their bodies began to build a flame, but neither of them stopped it — a slight warmth budded in-between her legs, the recognition of the feeling caused her mind to snap.

An onslaught of emotion trickled into her body and the expert touches of her sensei numbed the confusion — Sakura backed away as if Sasuke had burned her, suddenly realizing that she needed to breathe.

Words failed her.

They stared nimbly at one another — had he just… _Initiated_ that?

"Sas-"

It wasn't out of character for him to touch her — when days were simpler she would nearly suffocate from lovestruck emotion when he would put a protective arm in front of her, or carry her, but like _this_ …After _everything_ that had happened?

"You're different," he stated simply.

Her face reddened and she was sure she might explode from embarrassment, "what do you mean?" she backed up until the back of her legs hit the stone bench on the opposite wall and sat down, thoroughly numb from their altercation.

"You act differently, but I think it's something else."

Her sensei's body atop of hers — the slight groan that left his lips when he sank himself into her—

She gaped at her own train of thought - _stop it!_

"I'm the same, Sasuke-kun," she guarded herself, there was no possible way for him to guess that she had lost her virginity to their mentor only a few weeks prior, "of course I've grown up — you _have_ been away for quite a while — I'm not going to be the same little girl anymore."

Sasuke eyed her — she sank herself closer to the wall, how did he have this sort of affect on her?

"You're still easy to read, you let yourself show too much emotion — you _and_ Naruto," he rested his case — and Sakura felt the pressure of his scrutiny lift off her shoulders.

Sakura hmph'd, clearly annoyed with the insult, "I'd rather show emotion than be cold and tactless, it's no wonder you have so much trouble expressing yourself."

This time — Sasuke veered, "I can express myself."

Sakura sucked air through her teeth, " _right_ — and Kakashi-sensei gave up reading Icha Icha while you were away."

He remained quiet — and for the first time Sakura could see the window of opportunity Sasuke was allowing her to see, ever since the curse seal had split their team — he had closed himself off to them. But now…Now there was the _smallest_ hint of a possibility of their team returning to normal. Sakura could see it — Sasuke had avenged his family…naively, she wanted to believe he could focus on returning home.

What didn't make sense — and she would abide her time talking with him — was why he changed after the attack on their village.

Yes, she was different.

But not in the way he might suspect.

xoxox

Kisame swung his sword narrowly over Kakashi's head.

In truth, he may have whizzed off a couple of his grey, obtuse locks.

"Found us over here in Ame, huh?" Kisame laughed hungrily, heaving his sword dangerously — almost quick enough to touch the copy-nin.

Fortunately, Kakashi could work easily with a kunai and clever thinking.

"I figured you guys may make a trip here, I didn't expect you to uncover us so easily—" Kakashi said, as if they were having a conversation between faux friends, Kisame lunged forward to strike once more, forcing Kakashi to jump behind a thicket of bushes that the swordsman tore through.

"It's easy when you got shadow buddy over there smoking a cigarette," Kisame scolded.

He would need to discuss that issue with Shikamaru later.

Yugao had gone ahead to search for the cave, their new mission had been assigned — they were to find the hideout in Amegakure — gather the required information — _with_ explicit details about the extractions of the bijuus and why they were collecting all of the jinchuriki. Normally, a mission of this rank would be assigned for a different team — but having three high-ranking shinobi and someone as genius as Shikamaru could work in their favor.

The swordsman swung expertly again, Kakashi doubled back — if he got touched by that sword his chakra would be eaten — quite literally. He tossed a kunai and watched it get easily deflected, but with his sharingan activated he was able to trick the swordsman into believing he was coming from above —

With Kisame's attention caught upwards —

"Now!" Kakashi landed on a branch and the double tendrils of Shikamaru and Shikaku's shadow possession caught hold of the large man's legs and forced him to stop mid-swing, effectively dropping samehada on the ground lifelessly.

Kisame snickered and shook his head, "I can't believe I fell for that stupid trick."

The two shadow users stepped out from behind some trees, each holding the hand sign with an acute concentration to keep the Akatsuki member still, "—we're going to have to ask you some questions," Kakashi began.

"Nice try, so I can tell you what our plans are?" Kisame laughed. "You Konoha shinobi are all the same — We've already anticipated your other teammate, you realize that, right?" Kisame chuckled, with a brute force of strength he slowly fought against the black tendrils wrapped around his body. Amazingly, Kakashi watched as the large man made the jutsu quiver — nearly forcing Shikamaru to release his seal.

A sudden _thud!_ on the ground forced Kakashi to glance in the opposite direction — Itachi silently emerged from the shadows, Yugao's limp body fell on the forest floor, Kakashi kept a stoic face — the last time he had faced Itachi in the village - the drastic change in the Uchiha had been remarkable. As his previous ANBU captain, Kakashi hadn't expected the immediate force and clever tactics he used to fight him — and as a renowned Akatsuki member, the adept copy-nin could safely say they were outnumbered.

Yugao was still breathing — but the blood stained on her clothing didn't bode well with him.

"You should let my partner go," Itachi suggested, he held three shuriken between his fingers — one flick of his wrist and they were going to plunge through the chest of their teammate.

Shikaku and Shikamaru glanced at each other warily — each thinking of a plan to extricate Yugao under the circumstances that they were given, but looked at Kakashi for permission first. As a veteran team leader, Kakashi knew there were limits to when the priority of the mission and the safety of the people he was in charge of keeping alive began to blur.

"…Let him go," Kakashi said firmly, keeping a tense eye on Itachi and his partner.

Begrudgingly, the two shadow users released their jutsu and grabbed kunai from their holster's defensively — Kakashi landed near Itachi, ready to grab Yugao but kept his focus on the revered Uchiha.

Kisame trudged happily back to his partner after hauling samehada over his shoulder. "So do we—"

"You shouldn't have that eye," Itachi interrupted his partner, much to his accustomed annoyance.

"So I've been told," Kakashi shot back — it wasn't a new statement, over the years when his notoriety for stealing jutsu's became well known, many of his opponents cursed the fact that he had cheated and gained a sharingan while they worked tirelessly perfecting their jutsu's.

He became the copy-nin.

At the expense of his friend and sanity.

Shikamaru grabbed Yugao with his shadow and dragged her back to them, Shikaku leaned forward to check her pulse and a grim frown settled on his face. Kakashi knew that look — they would need to get her medical assistance — and for a moment he regretted his decision to deny Sakura's request for this mission.

Yet, at the same time - he wouldn't want her anywhere near this fight.

Kisame shook his head, becoming bored with the confrontation, "let's take care of these guys and go —"

Itachi remained passive, unimpressed with the men before him, "I'll fight the one with the sharingan, you take the other two."

Shikamaru and Shikaku narrowed their eyes, standing protectively in front of their fallen teammate, it wouldn't work well to have them fight a legendary swordsman — their fighting style wouldn't work in their favor unless they decisively came up with a plan to apprehend Kisame.

At this point, they needed to abort their mission — it had dismantled itself once Kisame had noticed them trailing after him, they needed to return to the village as quickly as possible. Kakashi calculated the time it would take for him to distract the two Akatuski members while Shikamaru and Shikaku took Yugao back home, or to the nearest village to get healed.

They were near Amegakure…it was quite possible they could pull it off.

"You guys go, I'll buy you some time," Kakashi grabbed another kunai from the holster sitting on the back of his hip and moved his headband to sit comfortably on his forehead.

As expected, the two men tried to fight against the suggestion, but Kakashi moved his arm to silence them, "I said go," the authoritative nature of his voice wasn't one the most people opted to fight against, and the two shadow user's complied.

The two men bit back their rebuttal, Shikaku understood the gravity of the situation and held an unshakeable trust in Kakashi after working with him for so many years, "let's go, help me grab her, son."

Kisame chuckled, "as if it would be that easy!" He lunged forward but came in contact with a shadow clone that pushed back against him — unable to overpower the tall male, Kakashi's shadow clone swiped beneath him with his leg — Kisame quickly jumped up and swung forward once more — until a blast of fire erupted from his left.

It singed the edges of the large man's cloak, the frayed material made Kisame grin, " _close_."

Kakashi lifted his fingers once more — a thick mist began to permeate the area around them, and he knew this did little to stop Itachi, but at least it would buy his team some time. He counted to ten, Kisame stood idly to the side — until he felt Itachi's presence behind him.

A kunai almost stabbed him in the back, but he moved like a feral cat and twisted himself mid-air to avoid Itachi's flame that splintered the trees around him. Two waves clashed ferociously against the eruption of fire — he _barely_ reacted in time to enact that water jutsu. Landing high above the ground, Kakashi watched with a hawk's eye to trace Itachi's movement. Fortunately, not only did the mist serve as a protection for his teammates to escape, but it would help him avoid looking into the Uchiha's advanced sharingan.

Silence placated the Earth — the animals in the perimeter had cleared the area by now, and all Kakashi was left with was the sound of the trees bristling together and his own breathing.

Red eyes glowed through the mist from a distant branch parallel from him.

He blinked back and avoided looking directly at his opponent— Obito's sharingan helped him dismantle the genjutsu, but he wouldn't qualify himself as someone that could battle against Itachi's dojutsu.

Only a little longer.

Itachi appeared beside him, fast enough to throw Kakashi from his perch on the branch and flip himself to another tree. "You need to follow me if you want information about the attack on the village," the deep, grave voice that could only belong to his previous subordinate echoed around him, bouncing off the forest floor, almost as if Itachi's voice were his own.

_Shit._

He had been caught in those eyes.

Kakashi attempted to dispel the genjutsu, but with no luck.

Itachi could kill him now, if he wanted to.

"Then you don't want to know about our intentions with the Kyuubi's holder? " Itachi questioned him, effectively perking Kakashi's attention.

Kakashi kept his voice level, although a new sense of trepidation filtered through him, "and what purpose would it serve you to giveme information?"

"I can't explain that to you — but you're one of the few I believe can tell the Hokage what I know," the voice rang in his ears and Kakashi grimaced, he would need to have a small reserve of faith and trust that whatever Itachi told him would allow him freedom from this genjutsu.

Ideas tossed erratically through his head — he tried one last time to dispel the genjutsu but found that his body was becoming increasingly more heavy, he paused to look around the bare forest — had Shikamaru and Shikaku already made it out safely with Yugao?

His options were minimized to zero.

"I'm listening," Kakashi murmured.

xoxox

The news reached Sakura when she was helping an elderly woman walk back to the medical tent tent, Shizune had given her a couple hours to rest — and she couldn't help but remember how Kakashi would always come up with the most absurd excuses to dismiss his tardiness in an attempt to calm her and Naruto's rage.

It used to drive her crazy.

Even now, she could hear in his voice, " _…Sorry, an old lady lady asked me for directions on my way here."_

Or her _favorite_ , when he absolutely ran out of excuses, " _…I got lost on the road of life."_

By now, he had been gone for well over two weeks.

Each day, she found herself increasingly worried — and every night that Naruto and her sensei were out there, the more she found herself incessantly envisioning the worst scenarios that usually caused her to lose focus on her task or tighten her chest until she couldn't breathe. She had to get a hold of herself this morning when she was making her rounds, lost in her own thoughts her chakra almost burned the skin that she had been attempting to heal.

And each day — something would inevitably remind her of him.

He had done so much in the short amount they spent together since their mission that he was beginning to invade her thoughts like this?

Sure, they had sex — she didn't want to be _that_ girl that became severely attached to a man (that held no promises of being with her) just because he had taken her virginity. And _technically,_ Sakura had pushed for them to sleep with each other, so she had no right to think that he would return and things would be normal.

And to top it off?

Her _almost_ kiss with Sasuke a few days before unsettled her.

Not to mention that she had felt the explosive and extremely _raw_ emotions that she still harbored for the Uchiha were there. What she thought she had buried underground when he had left and taken a piece of her with him — had very much been dug up during the time that she spent with him in his prison cell, as if it were completely normal.

And every time she thought of Sasuke — a small flurry of excitement would flutter her chest…but when she thought about her _sensei,_ it became difficult to focus on anything else.

Sakura returned to her medical post more flustered and confused than before.

Shizune ran up to her, clearly upset by something and dragged her into an unoccupied room, and for a moment the pink haired medic _knew_ that something had happened to one of them. She had been waiting for this moment since Kakashi had left and her shishou had told her that Naruto's location was unknown.

Something horrible happened.

And she hadn't been there to try and help them.

Her throat constricted unhappily, her mouth dried and she bit her lip to stop the onslaught of pain that would knock her off of her feet. Sakura braced herself and her fingers clung onto the edges of her skirt, gripping so tightly she might rip the panels.

Shizune closed the flap to hide them from curious eyes.

"Tsunade-sama will tell you soon, but I wanted to tell you before that—"

_No…_

Tears instantly lifted to her eyes, obscuring her vision. Shizune glanced at her curiously — obviously unsure what she did to cause her apprentice to start crying, "oh..Sakura, what is it? What happened?"

Sakura hugged herself, her legs felt like they may give out, "…what happened?"

Shizune's eyes widened until they looked like they might pop out of her head, "oh gosh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to scare you! I just ran over here to tell you that there's _good_ news about Naruto!" she kept her voice low, but the relief and happiness wasn't diluted.

A furious blush of embarrassment washed over Sakura — but the alleviation that sentence gave her almost made her reach for something to prop herself up. "H-he's ok?" she asked absently, her chest lightened, and no amount of embarrassment could ruin the happiness that coursed through her.

"Yes!" Shizune beamed, "Tsunade-sama just received a hawk that Kakashi-san sent out a few days ago, apparently the Akatsuki _did_ find Naruto and Jiraiya-san's location, but Naruto was able to escape."

If Kakashi sent out of the hawk…That meant they were both safe for now.

Sakura _did_ sit down this time on an empty cot and took a steadying breathe, "did he mention anything else?"

Shizune pursed her lips, "I can't really say much else since it's in regards to the mission, but I wanted to let you know since I knew you were worried about Naruto."

She nodded her head, "yeah, sorry. Of course," she paused to take another breathe and for the first time in a few days — her mind was able to rest. A small smile graced her lips, "thank you, Shizune-san…I've been worried sick about them both."

"I know," she lamented, "we all have." The brown-haired medic sighed happily, "I know you don't usually go visit Sasuke-kun until later, but I cleared your schedule for another hour if you would like to go tell him," she offered.

Shizune had to be the most selfless person on this planet, Sakura decided.

"No, I can still work — I was just about to make my rounds and then see him later tonight," she excused herself — halfway hoping it would work. She needed time to recover from her last visit, it confused her — _he_ confused her. Not to mention it made her sick to think that she could possibly do that to Kakashi…Not that they were _explicitly_ dating or anything, since he made that exceedingly clear — but she felt bound to him…He had done so much for her during the coup that her thoughts would trail to him every few hours when she wasn't concerning herself with work.

"No, really — I have you covered, I'm sure he's curious about what's happening with Naruto as well."

The endearing look that Shizune offered broke Sakura's stark reserve.

She would just have to gather her nerve and go see him.

_Actually…_

Sakura made a move to get up, but sat herself back down and glanced at the floor, "I have a question, and I sort of need your opinion, Shizune-san."

Shizune glanced at the younger girl curiously, normally one to follow in her own footsteps, it was rare for Sakura to ever ask her advice that didn't concern anything medically related. "What is it?"

"Do you think…He's innocent?" Sakura asked, nervously tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear. By now, her hair had grown to her mid-back — it was beginning to frame her face and get in the way - she really needed to cut it.

"By ' _he',_ do you mean Sasuke-kun?" Shizune asked her.

Sakura nodded.

Shizune leaned back against a desk and pondered the question — totaling what he was being accused of and what she actually thought. Shizune usually had unbiased opinions, and as the babysitter of her shishou on most days — Sakura placed her judgement above most.

"Welll — what do _you_ think?" Shizune challenged her.

Sakura sighed, "I'm not sure what to think. Every fiber of me _wants_ to believe that he's innocent, but…" she paused, almost letting their incident in the hospital his first couple of days back slip.

"But what?"

"…But I just don't know what to believe anymore. I understand that he is still considered a missing-nin and deserted the village, but I really don't think he had anything to do with the Earth Daimyo…I mean, you heard! He even helped us during the attack, that has to mean something right?" Sakura pleaded with the thoughts in her head to make sense, and in a jumbled mess she tried to explain them on a messy platter to Shizune.

Shizune gave her a sympathetic glance, "well if that's what you believe, then you need to have faith in him that he wasn't involved."

Sakura pushed her face into her hands, aggravated with this situation and herself.

"Truthfully?" Shizune opted, "I think he's innocent. I don't know him like you and Naruto do, but I _do_ know that you, Kakashi-san, and Naruto wouldn't go so far as to train so diligently to become better to save him — that has to speak for itself. I know you're probably dreading the trial, but I'm sure Tsunade-sama and the council will take everything presented to them into consideration."

Her small speech helped, but Sakura couldn't help but remember how Sasuke had been adamant on leaving the village.

"What if he doesn't want to stay?" she asked hesitantly.

Shizune frowned, "...did he tell you that?"

Sakura hated lying, but protecting the words that Sasuke spoke to her in private also mattered, "no, he didn't…I guess I'm just assuming, it's hard to understand him."

"I'm sure it is," Shizune pondered, "and I know you must still have feelings for him so that makes it more difficult," she finished with ease.

Sakura inaudibly gasped and shot Shizune a look of incredulity, "no I don't," she responded instantly.

Shizune shrugged her shoulders teasingly, "ok you ' _don't'_ — but I've known you for a little while now and don't think I haven't noticed how you get a little bit more excited each day to see him."

Goodness, she _was_ easy to read.

Kakashi's gentle kiss reminded her of the predicament she had put herself in.

"Well he _was_ my teammate, Shizune-san."

Shizune gently laughed, "alright fine. But you're running out of time to go see him, go!" she shooed her away and Sakura left quickly to run the news to Sasuke.

Her head hurt.

Desperately, she wanted to see her sensei.

He had promised her he would be back soon, and she knew that it was under the false premise of actually just coming back _alive_ , but she needed him here to make sense of what they were doing. It had been exceedingly clear before — she didn't even mind if people had found out about them. It had been a bold move, and she had spilled herself to her sensei — but his cold remarks as to why they wouldn't be together still rang in between her ears.

However, the thought that people assumed she still harbored feelings like that for Sasuke made her stomach uneasy.

Was it nervousness? Or uncertainty that made her feel like this?

She shook the polluting thoughts from her mind.

Before that, she wanted Naruto in the village.

xoxox

Itachi appeared in front of him seamlessly — by now the genjutsu had been dropped and the mist had dissipated. What left remaining in the forest were two men that had once worked for the same village but held very different missions close to their hearts.

"Where did your partner go?" Kakashi questioned, the whereabouts of his team were still prominent on his mind, and he didn't trust the Uchiha to grant him classified information and let the rest of his team escape.

Itachi motioned back in the direction of Amegakure, "I told him to leave — he understands I like to deal with Konoha shinobi myself."

The copy-nin found that hard to believe.

The look must have translated onto his face because Itachi spoke again, "I released you from my tsukuyomi as promised, why would I begin to lie now?"

Kakashi set his lips in a firm line, - _noted._

"What do you gain by revealing anything to me?" Kakashi asked him, and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to understand the gravity of what was happening — especially after what Sasuke had told him in the hospital.

"We all have our purposes as shinobi — I'm sure you above all else can understand that," Itachi said, and the gray-haired male couldn't help but find it impossible to trust someone that had not only betrayed their village, but killed his entire clan.

Kakashi mulled over the philosophical inclination of what he said, "that's true — but I don't believe the words of someone that killed my comrades."

_Dozens_ of people he knew — even more that he had grown up with had been lost that night. Their blood stained the sword that Itachi wield, unsuspecting and killed by their own clan member. It had been a loss for the village — and it had brought on a sort of feigned and ignorant forgiveness towards the Uchiha's that had been ostracized in their village for decades — but at the expense of torturing his pupil.

"Whether you believe me or not is up to you, but I'm telling you this on the premise that you return what I tell you to the Hokage." Itachi's face had always been rather mute — almost _dead_ if he wanted to explain it, but now there was an unmoving hardness that Kakashi couldn't read. Before, in the _early_ days of Itachi's ANBU career, Kakashi could remember the trail of innocence and even _questions_ Itachi had for him - but that person had been replaced by a lethal man.

"Fine," Kakashi agreed.

"The attack on your village had been coordinated the week prior — on the basis of information from a group named _Taka_ ," Itachi explained.

Kakashi mulled over the information, no name had been discussed or brought up to him, but one person came to mind, "is one woman a red-head?"

Itachi gave the smallest note of assured agreement before continuing, "I have to premise the rest of what I'm about to tell you with this — Sasuke is under the assumption that I'm dead."

_"_ _I'm honoring my brother's life's work…"_

There was his answer.

_But why?_

Kakashi's eyes remained speculative, "is that why he returned to the village?"

Itachi kept his face stoic, "possibly. Although I think he has had other influences that are guiding his motivations now. As his previous mentor, I expect you noticed that he is no longer the same."

He could easily recall the different person that his student had become, how the violent hatred for his brother had evolved into…Something else. Sasuke - although someone that kept himself reserved, had at one point softened to the dynamics of their team. Their mission to see under his mask wasn't a futile one - but Kakashi could easily remember the trio running through the village and setting up sad, obvious traps to get a glimpse of his face.

It had been childish, but those days were a marvel where his students smiled freely.

"And what do you expect me to do?" He needed answers to the dozens of questions he had, it felt as if here talking a ghost — a person so hollow by name in the village that people refused to speak about the remarkable, older Uchiha.

"Sasuke was the one that assembled the team that infiltrated your village — they have been his subordinates for the past few months. They were able to dismantle the village security and allow the other members of my organization through."

It didn't make sense.

Why was he saying so much?

"—So you're telling me that Sasuke was aware of these intentions and allowed his village to be attacked?" the fledgling amount of hope he had for Sasuke had dwindled into ash.

"No," Itachi denied the accusation, "he got injured fighting against a man within our organization before Konoha brought him back to the village."

The ANBU member that had lived through the ordeal had already testified to this.

"What man?"

Itachi remained passive, as if the question still bothered him because he couldn't outwardly tell Kakashi, "I don't know — most of us are kept in the dark about the underlying foundation of our organization. I have tried to find out who this man is — but it seems after our fight, Sasuke came into contact with him."

Kakashi contemplated the information — it made sense, and the timeline and facts of what were being spoken were true in essence, "so this team that Sasuke assembled before…They acted on their own?"

"Yes."

One simple word and Kakashi kept his faith with his student…but it still didn't create a linear and coherent story.

"Were _you_ aware of the attack?"

"Yes, but I heard only after a brief conversation the day prior — there would have been no way for me to notify your village in time."

Kakashi couldn't pinpoint a reason as to why Itachi would tell him all of this. For a person that was vilified in their village, it didn't make sense.

"And what ties do you still have with Konoha that would require you to do this? You're an ex-communicated member of our village, I find it difficult to believe that you are telling me this out of sympathy for a village that has scorned you and now your brother."

For a moment — the smallest slant of Itachi's lips gave away his grievance with the situation, "Sasuke believes that he killed me — I removed the curse seal that Orochimaru placed on him during our final battle. The village was supposed to revere him — but I'm afraid that things have changed and I didn't expect Sasuke to act against Konoha."

"What did he do?"

If he wasn't involved with the coup — then what could Sasuke have done?

"He killed the Earth Daimyo as part of a new plan, I do not know what that plan involves, but the information I have received tells me that the man he spoke with after our battle influenced his decision."

Tension strung itself around the forest, Kakashi felt the weight of this information press on him — he killed the Earth Daimyo, one of the biggest offenses that could be charged on an individual — a deserter, no less. Tsunade's assumptions on Sasuke being the culprit had been decided on speculation, and Kakashi had whole heartedly doubted Sasuke's involvement - but it had been confirmed.

"So he has an an ulterior motive for being in the village? Is it to kill the Fire Daimyo?"

Itachi remained silent.

He didn't know.

Kakashi sighed evenly, "why are you telling me this? What you're saying makes sense, I won't deny your credibility at this point — but I'm finding it hard to understand given these circumstances."

Itachi kept a cool reserve, "I cannot help Konohagakure if I am found out by my organization—"

"So far you've only told me about Sasuke," Kakashi cut in, "explain to me the meaning of collecting the jinchuriki."

A cool breeze ruffled the trees and doused the heat of the conversation between the two skilled shinobi — "the only information that us members have gathered is that once the bijuus are are collected and extracted — a new era of peace will begin."

xoxox

Sakura sighed, her chakra was nearly depleted after another four hours of back to back surgeries.

She wanted nothing more than to curl up in her cot and sleep for the next three months. By the time she woke up, this nightmare that surrounded her home would be over and the sad faces she had to see everyday would be back comfortably in their new homes.

Shizune relieved her so she could take a break and allow the soldier pills replenish some of her chakra before returning back to the surgery room — Sakura left the medical area and simply _walked_ absently away from the bombarding noises. Her legs took her before she could control their movement — until she found herself somehow sitting near the edges of the training grounds, the gentle breeze washed away the sweat that had gathered at her brow.

The screech of a hawk echoed around the area, circling high above the treetops — she plopped herself on the ground and watched the hawk freely travel in the sky. Her hands gripped some tufts of grass and she tugged them out, the feeling of dirt fell loose between her gentle fingers, soiling her clean hands.

This field was where they had first became Team Seven.

A crow fluttered it's wings and landed on the wooden poles — specifically, the one where Naruto had been tied up and they decided to feed him. The memories burned brightly in front of her, she could still see him squealing and cursing to be let go.

She remembered Sasuke and her offering him their bento, and only after feeding him did Kakashi pop out and congratulate them on their acceptance onto his team.

The crow squawked angrily at her and tilted it's head — as if it were looking directly at her.

"What do you want?" she huffed indignantly, the crow hollered again — unhappy with the hawk that was flying above it.

_Crow…._

_Sensei._

She pursed her lips and eyed the curious crow — she wanted to believe that Kakahi had kept things fair in their team, but he identified with Sasuke the best — for reasons beyond her understanding. Although this bypassed Naruto, she had been wary enough to realize the path that Sasuke chose and her sensei already walked were eerily similar.

In a flurry of movement, the hawk swooped down and landed near her — the crow squawked furiously and Sakura noticed the miniature scroll attached to the it's leg. Curiously, she grasped the small scroll and opened it, ignoring the crow's displeasure.

_'_ _I'm alive — don't send Naruto yet._  
I should have requested you to come on this mission.  
Sorry.'

Sakura brought the piece of paper close to her chest and smiled warmly to herself.

She felt _light_ , a hum of happiness touched her skin that felt selfish in contrast to the suffering of her village.

Yet…Only her sensei would be able to wrap a morbid joke, apology, and thoughtful message in a scroll meant to stop her worrying.

She bit her lip to contain the giddiness that overwhelmed her.

He was thinking about her.

The hawk launched itself back into the air, much to the peace of the crow that dropped to the ground and began to peck into the ground for it's lunch.

She leaned back and tucked the note into her pocket — the good news from Shizune about Naruto and now her sensei made her world spin happily — a clarity overcame her vision that crystallized the greenery around her.

It wasn't a romantic gesture, and Sakura didn't expect that from someone like him.

The gesture in itself was meant to ease her worry, and the thought of sending it to her amidst the strict rules the Hokage made about such high-class missions that could potentially sabotage the mission if they were intercepted. And — he recognized her abilities as a medic on the field. Recognition from one of the men she respected most made her chest warm.

It scared her to think about this sort of raw attachment — but she missed him.

xoxox

Deep in a barred room, further into the cave of the prison where light couldn't reach — a woman sat in the corner of her cell , locked in the darkness until they decided it was worth doing something worth her. The only source of light came from a halfway, broken bulb that flickered constantly - nearly driving her to insanity — but by now her eyes had adjusted to the dark.

After weeks of denying any involvement with the Akatsuki — they had resorted to meticulous methods to extract information out of her.

What they hadn't expected was for Orochimaru to have already installed preventative measures to combat it. If not for his seal — she was sure the interrogation unit and man with the scar would have stolen the layout of their plan.

Her broken glasses sat unfixed in her palms, she twisted the broken glass with a dejected stare, sorely confused about the entrails of what was left of their mission. A bubbling anger sat in the bottom of her stomach, and another thrust of dejected pain offered her little source of comfort.

Karin couldn't believe he turned her in.

Tossed her on the floor and obliterated their plan.

The smallest sound of water trickling in the vents high above her caught her attention, and she peered up in the fuzzy darkness to see if she could find the source of the noise.

A collection of chakra brightened her day.

Water began to drip from the vent — pooling on the cold cement floor, pinpointing the chakra — she grinned happily and stood up to greet the last person she usually ever wanted to deal with.

"Suigetsu!" she whispered — the liquefied man began to slowly materialize before her until he gathered himself. He popped his back and let out a relieved huff — twisting his torso to stretch his limbs.

"You wouldn't believe how hard it was to find you in this place," he growled unhappily, "you would think that—"

"Keep your voice down!" she hissed at him, severely aware of how close the ANBU and prison guards were.

Suigetsu frowned, immediately regretting his choice to find Karin first, "excuse me for wanting to help you out of here," he bit at her, dusting himself off.

Karin lightened her tone, "fine - sorry. But have you heard anything about Sasuke-kun?" she pined, hoping that it wasn't true.

He shook his head, "no, and word is getting around to the other members," he paused to scrutinize the danky looking cell, "what the hell happened, anyway?"

Karin began to pace around the cell — still upset over the ordeal, "I don't know! I found the book and then I ran into Sasuke, but he was _fighting_ and helping civilians!" she exclaimed incredulously, "I tried to get his attention — but he demanded I give the book to him…so I _did_ thinking that he was going to keep it safe — but then he turns me into this grey haired guy!"

Suigetsu sat himself down and crossed his arms behind his head, "have they gotten any information from you?"

Karin glared at him, "is that really your concern right now? Of _course_ they haven't — only because of Orochimaru's seal, though."

Suigetsu shrugged, "then you should be fine, right?"

Karin gave him a look that questioned his existence, "idiot — that only protects questions about anything pertaining to _Orochimaru!_ Not what team Taka is doing." Out of habit, she went to push her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose, but the empty space only reminded her of her broken glasses lying on the floor.

Suigetsu was at a loss, although he was becoming increasingly more annoyed with his fiery team member, "then you're going to have to hold out for a while longer until we can figure out a way to get you and Sasuke out."

Karin sighed and dramatically sat down on her hard bed, "I _can't_ believe Sasuke-kun did that to me," she pouted, Suigetsu was about to say something when she suddenly got up again and glared at the door.

"—I'm going to tell them! I go into interrogation again tomorrow. I could get a plea deal—"

Suigetsu looked at her as if she grew two heads, "you tell _them_ and everything falls apart! Just because your Prince Sasuke sold you out doesn't mean that he's abandoned us completely."

Karin continued to pace wildly in the proximity of her cell.

Suigetsu stood up to remedy the situation, "let me talk to him first — maybe he has another plan and just hasn't had the chance to tell us, ok?"

The Uzumaki calmed herself and nodded, holding a torch of trust for someone that pissed her off daily, "ok -ok, I won't say anything, but you better do it soon! I hate this place."

"Why? If I remember correctly you wanted to bar yourself and Sasuke in a cell once—"

Karin punched him in the face and water splattered all over the floor.

xoxox

They dragged him into the emergency quarters of the tents on a gurney, Sakura had been the first one to be notified since both her shishou and Shizune were in the middle of other operations. The ANBU had carried him in from the gates — they already had the operation station ready for him, a new buzz of worry infiltrated the remaining medics that would be operating on him.

She didn't want to see it — but his tuffs of blond hair stuck at wild angles from the entrance of the tent, "—bring him over here!" Sakura barked, and almost scared herself into thinking she sounded like her mentor for a second.

The nurses wielded him in and placed him on the operating table.

"What happened to him!?" she demanded, instantly feeling for his heartbeat and vitals - _he's too weak._

"The ANBU that brought him in said they found him bleeding close to the village gates — we don't know anything other than that, Sakura-san," the head nurse said, quickly laying out the scalpels and tools required for her to grab.

Sakura _wanted_ to notice the maturity of his face, she _wanted_ to comment on how much he had grown, she _wanted_ to talk to him about his adventures, she _wanted_ to hug him — but her medical instincts prevented her from doting any attention on anything other than the grotesque amount of blood that covered him.

At this point, it wasn't about what she may have wanted.

It was about saving Naruto's life.

Dizzy, half-way unconscious and slowly losing rational on his surroundings, Naruto grinned through the blood that had crusted onto his face, " _maa_ , _maa_ , Sakura-chan — why do you look so worried?"

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay in this chapter and thank you for your patience!  
> I'm one chapter ahead on this story on FF and I had to work out some kinks with the next chapter.
> 
> But! I will be posting next week and I think you'll really enjoy the upcoming chapter~  
> Thank for all of your guys' support, I really appreciate it. 
> 
> Don't forget to leave a comment and let me know what you think~


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